bc.-mayors-greet-changes-to-municipal-affairs-portfolio-with-caution-and-optimism
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B.C. mayors greet changes to Municipal Affairs portfolio with caution and optimism

Local government leaders are speaking out about their hopes for improved relations with the province on housing, infrastructure Published Nov 21, 2024  •  Last updated 46 minutes ago  •  4 minute read “My initial concern is that, will the premier have the necessary time, while being the premier, to also be the minister of municipal affairs when it comes to co-ordinating with cities?” says Langford Township Mayor Eric Woodward. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG B.C. mayors will no longer have a single point of contact in the provincial government after the cabinet shuffle split the old Ministry of Municipal Affairs between the Office of the Premier and the new Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, led by Ravi Kahlon. Several local government leaders said Wednesday they were optimistic the changes signal a restart in municipal-provincial relations after two years of having policies, particularly around housing, dictated to them from Victoria. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Sign In or Create an Account or Article content Others are cautious, wondering whether Premier David Eby will have the time to deal directly with municipal officials and wondering what role Brittny Anderson, the new minister of state for local governments and rural communities, will have. According to the province, the premier’s office will be in charge of “strategic relations and consultations with local governments, local government organizations and others.” Kahlon has been given the rest of the portfolio, including financial and other support to local governments, management of cross-government programs related to local governments, and consultation with ministries, agencies, other governments, First Nations and other interested parties. This means municipalities will have an additional avenue for outreach directly to the premier’s office through Anderson, particularly on rural issues. Money provided to municipalities and across-government work involving local governments will be under Kahlon’s purview. Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward said it is clear the election demonstrated a desire among voters for change, particularly in the Fraser Valley where the NDP were mostly shut out by John Rustad’s Conservatives. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Article content Article content He sees the shifts to how the province handles municipal affairs as a potentially positive step in the right direction, but warns that there are still few details about how Eby, Kahlon and Anderson will work together. “It remains to be seen what that’s going to look like, until the mandate letters come out, how that’s going to be structured. I mean, my initial concern is that, will the premier have the necessary time, while being the premier, to also be the minister of municipal affairs when it comes to co-ordinating with cities?” said Woodward. As for the new Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Woodward was more pessimistic, saying it sends “a clear message that they stand by their approach to housing” and adding he expects the province to continue imposing housing targets on municipalities, even those already feeling stress from population growth. Not all mayors agree with Woodward’s criticism of the province’s housing policies. New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone saying he understands the status quo around housing development was not working. Johnstone also believes that combining municipal affairs with housing makes sense, given it remains one of the key issues for local governments. But he said there is still a long way to go when it comes to other priorities such as schools. Article content “It’s all kind of good to build housing, but schools across B.C. are overcrowded, and unless we see some big, massive investment in those types of infrastructure, we’re just not rebuilding local communities,” he said. “So a municipal affairs minister has to have a strong voice in cabinet for a lot of the other things that cities need as well.” Kahlon said the entire point of his new role is to help municipalities build some of those needed amenities

im-abandoned:-seniors-trapped-by-broken-elevator-in-vancouvers-west-end
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Seniors trapped by broken elevator in Vancouvers West End

Seniors living in an apartment building in Vancouver’s West End say they’ve had no elevator service for over a month, leaving many of them stranded. Some residents of the 12-storey building at 1254 Pendrell St., like Nicholas Lebessis, say they’ve essentially been trapped in their apartments because they can’t use the steep stairway. “I can’t live like this. I can’t even go down one stair. I have a reconstructed knee,” Lebessis said. Lebessis, who lives on the top floor of the building, hasn’t left his apartment in a month. “I can’t go out of here, I can’t get any exercise,” he said. “It is frustrating of course. I can’t go out for a little walk around the block, I can’t go out for groceries.” 1:49 Locals offer help as West End seniors’ struggle with broken apartment elevator The elevator stopped working after October’s atmospheric river. During the storm, some residents said they saw water pouring down the elevator shaft. Story continues below advertisement The building houses seniors, some with mobility issues, and neighbours and volunteers have since stepped up to help by delivering groceries, medications and other supplies to residents who can’t get off their floors. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Lebessis said he’s been paying university students to do his laundry for him. “It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it,” he said. “A man cannot live without clean underwear.” Residents say they’ve been told repairs to the elevator could take more than a year, and that there doesn’t seem to be any urgency on the part of the building’s operators to get the job done. They’re also raising safety concerns in the event of an emergency. “This is totally unacceptable,” Lebessis said. “I don’t want to have them to carry me down 12 flights of stairs.” Trending Now 2:01 Vancouver seniors stuck with no elevator The building is operated by the Pendrellis Society, with funding through BC Housing. Story continues below advertisement Freshly re-appointed Housing Minister Ravi Kahon said the province is providing emergency funding. “Seven brand new units opened up on the ground floor for those that have accessibility issues, and we’ve also offered them additional supports for fixing the elevators,” Kahlon said. “They haven’t taken us up on it. They said they’ve got a plan to do that.” The society’s plan remains unclear: the organization listed no contact information on its website, and Global News was unable to reach the operators. Lebessis said he just wants his independence back. “It’s ridiculous. They’re not working on it,” he said. “I’m feeling let down … I’m abandoned.”

social-housing-units-converted-into-rentals-in-future-vancouver-tower
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Social housing units converted into rentals in future Vancouver tower

Some changes are envisioned for the future Curv tower project in downtown Vancouver’s West End, which is billed to be the world’s tallest Passive House green building. In June 2020, Vancouver City Council approved the rezoning application to achieve the project at 1059-1075 Nelson Street, located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Thurlow and Nelson streets, replacing old low-rise apartment buildings. This was approved as a 586 ft tall, 60-storey, mixed-use residential tower, containing 102 units of social housing on the lower levels (25% of the building’s floor area), 50 units of secured purpose-built market rental homes within the middle levels, and 358 luxury strata market ownership condominium units within the upper levels. However, Montreal-based developer Brivia Group has now returned to the municipal government with a revised rezoning application to amend the building’s uses, reconfigure the interior floor plans, and make slight revisions to the exterior design. The overall form of the building will remain the same. Presumably due in part to the current poor market conditions for strata units as a result of the sustained high interest rates, coupled with growing construction costs and challenging construction financing, the developer is looking to convert the floor area originally intended for social housing into secured purpose-built market rental housing to improve the project’s financial viability and to enable construction to finally advance. 2024 revised concept for the Curv tower at 1059-1075 Nelson Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group/Brivia Group) There will no longer be an on-site social housing component; instead of providing 102 units of social housing, the total number of market rental housing units will grow from 50 to 174. Furthermore, the social housing obligation of the project — an in-kind community amenity contribution (CACs) — will now be achieved as a cash CACs payment to the City, which will enable off-site social housing. During the 2020 rezoning process, it was indicated that the provision of 102 units of social housing within the tower carried an in-kind CACs value of $70 million. The number of strata homes will remain the same at 358 units. As well, in conjunction with the pivot to more rental housing, the rezoning amendment seeks to eliminate the balconies on the building’s east and west frontages to help achieve the Passive House green building certification targets. With the enclosed balconies now adding to indoor living space, along with other changes, the building’s total floor area grows from about 427,00 sq ft to about 456,000 sq ft. The building’s total floor area ratio (FAR; a measure of comparing the size of the building’s floor area to the land area it sits on) will grow from 24.7 during the 2020 rezoning to 26.4 in the amendment. The project’s architectural firm is IBI Group. Brivia Group initially submitted its rezoning amendment application in June 2023 to seek these changes, and this will now be up for public consultation. It was reported in October 2023 that 100 of the condominium units (28% of the total number of condominium units) were pre-sold for an average of over $2 million each, after pre-sales were initially launched in May 2023. Artistic rendering of Curv. (Brivia Group) Artistic rendering of Curv. (Brivia Group) In recent years, the municipal government has revised its policies under the West End Plan to improve the financial viability of stalled housing projects. This includes the previous move of providing developers with an alternative path of building projects along the Thurlow Street corridor with market rental housing and including a below-market rental housing component, instead of the only established framework of strata condominiums with a social housing component and CACs. Over the past five years, this move has pushed stalled projects forward, catalyzing a significant number of secured purpose-built rental housing units. Then in September 2024, Vancouver City Council made further changes to the West End Plan by reducing the inclusionary social housing requirements from 25% of the residential floor area to 20% or one-for-one replacement of the existing rental housing, whichever is greater. Also, a new cash-in-lieu option has been introduced to reflect the costs for the municipal government to generate off-site social housing projects, including the cost of land and construction. Both of these changes will be introduced on an interim basis for at least years until December 31, 2026. When complete, Curv will tie with The Butterfly as the city’s third tallest building. The Butterfly, developed by Westbank, situated toward the eastern end of the same city block, reached completion this year. However, as both buildings are built on the highest elevation point of the downtown Vancouver peninsula, they will appear taller in the skyline from a distance than their actual structural height. For example, Curv will appear as a 724 ft tall tower, as its site is 139 ft above sea level. 2024 revised concept for the Curv tower at 1059-1075 Nelson Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group/Brivia Group) 2024 revised concept for the Curv tower at 1059-1075 Nelson Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group/Brivia Group)

struggles-with-housing-shortages-affecting-bc.’s-small-towns
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Struggles with housing shortages affecting B.C.’s small towns

A shortage of affordable housing has led to a growing crisis, and it’s taken shape with a tent city in downtown Sechelt that sprung up in recent years. Catherine Leach thought she would be pushed out of British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast when her landlord decided to sell her home. “I got super lucky that one of the few apartment buildings opened up and I got a suite in that building,” she says. “I would have had to leave the Coast. It was that close. And it’s not just about people having a home to live in. It’s about an affordable home and having homes so that people can actually work here.” Ms. Leach is executive director of the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society, a large 50-year-old multiservices nonprofit that serves a scattered population of 32,000 people along 100 kilometres of coastline. The Sunshine Coast is about a half-hour ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, and it’s long been an idyllic draw for residents of Metro Vancouver who want a quieter, less expensive seaside lifestyle. But a shortage of affordable housing has led to a growing crisis in the small community, and it’s taken shape with a tent city in downtown Sechelt that sprung up in recent years. “It’s impacting everybody in every way – that’s how bad it’s become,” she says of B.C.’s housing crisis. Nonprofit workers on the front line know that people aren’t just sleeping in tents or in shelters and living in the rough. There are hidden homeless people living in their cars, in wooded areas, sleeping in boats and on couches, in motel rooms, and even in short-term rentals, because they’ve been squeezed out of the housing market. Low-income groups such as seniors are particularly impacted. Marc White, chair of the Older Persons and Elders Advisory Committee, which advises Vancouver city staff and council, has heard reports of seniors sleeping in the Vancouver airport because it’s safer. “I think it’s all over [the province],” says Dr. White, who is Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia. “Because when you look at 43 per cent of the people on the BC Housing wait list, they are 55 and older, and half of those are experiencing homelessness for the first time as a senior – and that is incredible.” He cites a recent Statistics Canada report that shows B.C.’s hidden homelessness rate was at 17.7 per cent in 2021. People had been asked if they’d ever had to live somewhere temporarily because they had nowhere else to go. Considering the rents B.C. seniors are paying, it’s no wonder. “Right now, based on census data, there are 14,000 [Vancouver] seniors paying more than 30 per cent of their household income on rent in the private market, and 5,100 households spending 50 per cent of their household income on rent,” he says. The Sechelt encampment is located near the Sunshine Coast’s only year-round homeless shelter and a transitional housing project with health and social services. There aren’t enough beds or services, so the community is pulling together. The Sunshine Coast Community Services Society is soon breaking ground on a striking new housing project by lead architect Jesse Garlick of Studio 531 Architecture. Part of the inspiration behind the U-shaped design, says Ms. Leach, was to create an inward sense of safety. The building will include 35 units of housing for single women and women with children, in response to the statistic that 59 per cent of the Coast’s children are living with a single parent who is living below the poverty line. Ms. Leach says the project, in partnership with BC Housing, is six years in the making. As executive director of Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, she was also involved in that redevelopment, and she learned that support for vulnerable people starts in their own communities. “If there was any wish for me – and the government knows this, everybody knows this: fund projects that are more complex that are actually going to affect change. Like, don’t continue to just put very targeted, particularly very vulnerable people all jammed together in one location and walk away. Don’t do that any more.” Their crisis is an extension of the Vancouver crisis, but they don’t have the same resources to address it, says Kelly Foley, Sunshine Coast regional housing co-ordinator for Cover the Coast, a local affordable housing society. She co-authored a 2023 assessment needs report that shows crime, particularly violent crime, increased between 2016 and 2021, with a major spike in violent crime in 2020. “Because we are such a bedroom community to Vancouver, the cost of housing in Vancouver has certainly had an impact here,” says Ms. Foley. “You combine that with older adults moving here and we are in a tough situation, because we have a lack of working-age adults that can’t afford to live in our community, and who could help support those people.” Half the population of the Coast is older than 55, and about one-third are over 65, she says. As well, the average household income is lower than the B.C. average. People are fearful of the sudden changes they are seeing, particularly in downtown Sechelt, says Ms. Foley, who has met with residents of the encampment. “What I’m hearing is that there are people who are living in tents, who are very vulnerable, and also there’s