Over 5,400 rental homes being considered by City of Coquitlam: report

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of Concert Properties' Burquitlam Park (right) and Cottonwood Lands (centre) redevelopments. (Concert Properties)

The City of Coquitlam has made significant progress towards achieving its goals of catalyzing new secured purpose-built rental housing through a range of incentives to developers, according to a newly released progress report.

The Housing Affordability Strategy was approved in 2015, and as of August 2020, there were nearly 6,200 units in progress in some shape or form. Prior to the strategy, new rental housing and social housing was almost non-existent.

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This includes 754 rental units that are approved or under construction within seven projects, typically with a mix of housing tenures, such as in developments that are predominantly condominiums.

The largest of these projects underway include 208 market rental units within Concert Properties’ Burquitlam Park redevelopment at 551 Emerson Street, near SkyTrain’s Burquitlam Station. This infusion of rental housing is part of a package of public benefits that include a new YMCA recreational facility, transit park-and-ride facility, and improved parks.

2019 artistic rendering of Burquitlam YMCA. (Stantec Architecture/City of Coquitlam/YMCA of Greater Vancouver)

Just east of SkyTrain’s Lougheed Town Centre Station, Cressey Development’s Hensley project at 430 Westview Street will create 201 market rental units and 100 non-market rental units.

Another 5,420 rental units within 26 projects are in the proposal stage, currently being reviewed by the municipal government.

This includes 692 purpose-built rentals at Concert Properties’ Cottonwood Lands at 530 Cottonwood Avenue, which is related to the aforementioned 551 Emerson Street project location. The public benefits for both sites are generated by a combined total of 1,600 condominium homes.

At 2954 Pheasant Street, next to SkyTrain’s Coquitlam Central Station, there are 893 market rental units and 153 non-market rental units proposed by Marcon Developments and Quadreal Property Group in a joint partnership for a mixed-use development.

Just to the north at Coquitlam Centre shopping mall, the first phase of the massive 60-acre development by Morguard Investments proposes to incorporate 731 market rental units.

Currently, Coquitlam is second in Metro Vancouver with the number of new purpose-built rental homes underway.

“Housing affordability has continued to be a challenge across the region and a concern of all three levels of government,” reads the city staff report.

“Guided by the City’s Housing Affordability Strategy, Coquitlam has made significant progress in responding to these issues in terms of helping to facilitate the construction of rental and other forms of affordable housing by leveraging development activity and partnering with a range of stakeholders as well as senior levels of government who have responsibility for housing.”

Artistic rendering of 3100 Ozada Avenue, Coquitlam. (DYS Architecture/Affordable Housing Societies)

This year to date, the city council has approved allocating $4.1 million from the developer-funded Affordable Housing Reserve Fund to support 153 affordable homes in two separate projects. The municipal government is anticipating further funding requests for projects that could support the creation of nearly 700 additional non-market rental units combined, including 3100 Ozada Avenue near SkyTrain’s Lafarge Lake-Douglas Station.

There are also plans to create new affordable housing at the former Burquitlam Lions Care Centre site at 560 Sydney Avenue, owned by the city.

Comparatively, as of the end of July 2020, there were nearly 4,600 new rental homes in the proposal stage being reviewed by the City of Burnaby, including 1,730 non-market rental units and about 2,830 market rental units. A total of 1,800 rental homes are under construction or recently completed.

As of June 2020, the City of Vancouver has approved about 3,100 (15%) of the 20,000 market rental units and 4,458 (37%) of the 12,000 social housing units under its 10-year comprehensive Housing Vancouver Strategy between 2017 and 2028.

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