Vancouver councillor proposes temporary modular housing in single-family zones

A Vancouver city councillor is proposing a motion that would permit temporary modular housing to be built in single-family (RS) and duplex (RT) zones in Vancouver.

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OneCity councillor Christine Boyle says that in order to address Vancouver’s homelessness crisis “permanent affordable housing” is needed across the city.

“Modular housing is a relatively inexpensive opinion and can be built more quickly than traditional construction projects,” states the motion.

The proposal requests city staff “explore and report back on opportunities to deliver Temporary Modular Housing (TMH) buildings for homeless residents, on RS and RT zoned parcels on private and city owned land.”

Currently, Vancouver does not allow Temporary Modular Housing to be built in RS and RT zones.

Boyle hopes Vancouver’s zoning bylaws can be amended to change this.

“Where zoning by-laws are overly restrictive and segregate uses unnecessarily, they can act as impediments to healthy urban development,” states the motion.

“Amending Vancouver’s zoning by-laws to permit modular housing on RS and RT zones would provide the necessary options to meet the growing demand for modular housing and will significantly impact the unprecedented levels of homeless in the city of Vancouver.”

The motion will be presented to council on July 23.