Opinion: Broadway Plan's "Pace of Change" policy will be disastrous for much-needed new rental housing supply

Mar 17 2023, 8:05 pm

Vancouver City Council is set to review and deliberate the City of Vancouver staff’s recommendations for one of the most backward, crazy, upside-down planning policy ever imagined — the Broadway Plan’s “Pace of Change” policy.

It would prevent the far greater potential of rental housing options we desperately need getting built near the future subway stations of SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway Extension, and add further heat to the pressure cooker that is our housing affordability situation.

Voting in support of any form of a Pace of Change policy will keep renters away from public transit, encourage reliance on private vehicles, add to renters’ commute times into the economic core of the region, and force renters to live on busy, noisy and polluted arterial streets for decades to come — all contrary to the campaign promises by our elected municipal representatives.

For background, there was a four-year-long process of planning, refining, adjusting and scrutinizing what future rental housing buildings would look like in the Broadway Plan, which was enacted in September 2022 following the previous City Council’s June 2022 approval.

broadway plan character areas 1

The sub-areas of the Broadway Plan, and the locations of the future subway stations of SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway Extension. (City of Vancouver)

The Broadway Plan gives renters a better chance to live close to public transit, employers, off arterials on quiet streets, and live closer to grocers, retail, and entertainment, minimizing the reliance on cars to align with the City’s climate action priorities. But the Pace of Change policy may swoop in to wipe that out as it would significantly and disastrously cap the number of new rental housing projects that can proceed at a time.

There are 485 blocks within the Broadway Plan, which covers an area from Vine Street to the west and Clark Drive to the east, 1st Avenue to the north and 16th Avenue to the south. This is the heart of Vancouver, which saw its population grow by more than 20% over the last two decades.

Within this 5.8 sq km area that reaches eight blocks north and south of Broadway, there are roughly 300 block faces in the existing apartment zones, the RM-zones, which are the target of this troubling Pace of Change policy.

There are recommendations from City staff to only allow as few as five new rental housing projects within the RM-zones (shown below in purple) to proceed through rezoning each year. Bear in mind the formal rezoning application process reaching to City Council’s public hearing for a decision can take two to three years, or even more, per project.

broadway plan rental apartments pace of change policy map

The purple-coloured areas within the Broadway Plan area show the existing residential apartment areas where the “pace of change” policy would apply. (City of Vancouver)

Introducing such a policy to voluntarily prevent the flow of new rental housing options coming to this high-demand, desirable rental area would be about as insane as Disney Parks taking four years for an entire department to come out with a new 100-person ride everyone wants and then, once it is ready, tell the thousands of people waiting in the queuing line that they will only allow one or two people to ride it at a time.

There is a colossal and growing demand for new rental housing options as proven by a recently built 52-unit secured market rental housing building in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood, which received over 500 applications from prospective renters. To arbitrarily prevent the number of new rental housing projects that would help alleviate this rental demand is mind-boggling.

You actually cannot make up a more backwards idea to help alleviate the rental housing shortage than simply cutting off supply at the source, when there are bidding wars for tenants trying to secure a suite to rent in this city.

We have some existing challenges such as construction worker shortages, and lengthy and costly rezoning and permitting processes, but to simply prevent most applications from even getting submitted — adding another layer of issues to achieve more housing — is counterproductive, to say the least.

Is there any other organization in the world that would compound their problem of not having enough supply by cutting it off themselves? Imagine a restaurant not selling enough meals and telling customers outside they can’t enter the restaurant.

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Potential form of redevelopments within the existing residential apartment areas of the Broadway Plan. (City of Vancouver)

If any member of the Vancouver City Council votes in support of any form of Pace of Change policy that will arbitrarily restrict more rental housing units from getting built close to a $2.8 billion subway, it will be an inexcusable, monstrous failure on their part and their actions will run completely contrary to what they promised voters and renters in the most recent municipal election.

Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver party, comprised of city councillors Rebecca Bligh, Lisa Dominato, Sarah Kirby-Yung, Mike Klassen, Peter Meiszner, Brian Montague, and Lenny Zhou, all promised to address the housing crisis by streamlining permitting. But the Pace of Change policy will do the complete opposite of streamlining permitting as it will halt permitting and guarantee housing starts barely budge, let alone triple them.

OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle said she will prioritize climate action and affordable housing so that working-class people can afford to stay in the city they love and start families here. The Pace of Change policy will prevent most working-class renters from living in the quieter areas within the Broadway Plan, which is the majority of the plan’s area.

The proposed policy would only allow a very select few rental housing projects to proceed at a time in the off-arterial apartment areas, so when any rare new projects get built close to the subway stations, employers, and amenities, thousands of people will be left clamouring to rent the projects that are actually approved and built under the artificially restrained process.

Green Councillor Adriane Carr indicated she will push for climate action, affordable housing, and complete communities. Supporting the Pace of Change policy in any form will do the opposite, as more renters will be forced to live outside of the Broadway Plan area. Moreover, restricting new rental housing options in those apartment zones will lead to an unbalanced rental supply concentrated on arterial streets.

Affordable housing was also stated to be a top priority for Green Councillor Pete Fry. The Broadway Plan was on track to provide renters with a massive infusion of new rental homes.

vancouver broadway plan november 2021

Planned skyline within the Broadway Plan. Most of the purple shaded areas are where the “Pace of Change” policy would apply. (City of Vancouver)

Keep in mind that the earliest new rental homes catalyzed by the Broadway Plan likely will not be ready for their tenants until the end of the 2030s, accounting for the years-long rezoning and development permit application processes, and then the years-long construction process.

By keeping proposals that do not make the cut for the consideration intake in a waitlist holding pen, it also risks the cancellation of these projects as their economic and financial viability may erode over time, such as from the loss of construction financing, escalating costs from inflation, and opportunity costs.

Despite the tidal wave of interest from renters to live off arterial streets in walkable communities close to transit within the Broadway Corridor, the Pace of Change policy would drastically limit and prevent new rental applications from proceeding within the Broadway Plan’s residential areas that we desperately long for.

And finally, just a reminder that the vacancy rate for secured rental housing in Vancouver is currently hovering at about 1%. Within Broadway neighbourhoods, the vacancy rate is only about 0.6% or roughly 100 units.

While there are some valid concerns on the potential impacts to existing renters impacted by redevelopments, these impacts have been addressed by the previous City Council’s June 2022 decision to attach strong renter protections to the Broadway Plan. This includes paid relocation to a temporary rental with a top-up keeping interim rents the same, the right of first refusal to return to the new development, and rent at 20% below Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation’s city-wide average rents or existing rent — whichever is lower.

These renter protections significantly mitigate the short-term pain that will be felt from the overwhelming potential of the long-term gain of tens of thousands of additional rental homes in the Broadway Plan area, within a five to 15-minute walk of a future subway station.

City Council is scheduled to review the Pace of Change policy on March 29, 2023.

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