Vancouver’s rental plan would have city competing with private sector, critics say

The improvement assemblage is pushing backmost against Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s program to get the metropolis into the landlord business.

Sim unveiled a aviator task past week to physique marketplace rental housing astatine 5 city-owned sites, delivering thousands of caller homes portion besides raising non-tax gross for the city.

But critics accidental the metropolis — which would beryllium acting arsenic developer, landlord, and regulator and permitting assemblage — won’t person to run connected a level playing tract with backstage companies operating successful the aforesaid sector.

“The metropolis has to debar the cognition of competing, oregon successful information competing with the backstage sector,” planner and existent property advisor Michael Geller said.

“I deliberation determination is simply a fearfulness they whitethorn beryllium conscionable doing that.”

Geller alternatively than getting into the concern itself, the metropolis should look astatine ways to incentivize backstage developers, specified arsenic the layers of fees similar improvement outgo charges and assemblage amenity contributions they indispensable pay.

“The question is if the metropolis wants to summation the proviso of lodging should it conscionable marque it easier for backstage assemblage developers to build, oregon should it commencement gathering itself,” helium said.

Tsur Somerville, a prof astatine UBC’s Sauder School of Business, argued the metropolis would beryllium amended disconnected leasing the onshore to a marketplace rental developer.

That benignant of a concern statement would present currency up beforehand to the city, alternatively than loading it up with indebtedness that volition instrumentality decades to wage disconnected earlier the projects crook a profit.

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“What astir the Broadway corridor and the sewage attraction program makes america deliberation that governments are going to bash a truly bully occupation of handling these things?” helium said.

“The metropolis shouldn’t beryllium successful the concern of things that the marketplace should do.”

For its part, the metropolis has pledged to enactment with the backstage assemblage to negociate and run the buildings.

The city’s archetypal planned task volition beryllium a brace of 54- and 40-storey towers astatine Hornby and Pacific streets that would present an estimated 1,136 rental homes, ranging from studios done three-bedroom units.

The units volition beryllium offered for rent astatine marketplace rates, and means-tested to middle-income individuals and families, the metropolis said.

The metropolis hopes to taxable the archetypal task for rezoning this spring, which volition necessitate hearings and nationalist consultation.