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> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part
5 > Support Rental Housing
Smart Bylaws Guide – Part 5 – Support Rental Housing
Rental housing is a significant source of housing in BC.
More than 30 percent of residents rent their homes. Local
governments view apartments, detached houses and secondary suites as
the most important forms of rental housing. Forty-one percent
of renters live in low-rise apartments. Finally, low income
households rely on rental accommodation as the most affordable form
of housing.
Over the past thirty years, the housing market has not adequately
responded to the need for affordable rental housing. New
housing is composed of predominantly single family detached
dwellings in new suburban neighbourhoods. In the 1990’s, only
12.5 percent of new housing units created were for rental housing.
Municipalities are responding to the shortage of rental housing
by adopting a variety of policies and regulatory programs.
Strategies to support rental housing include:
City of Vancouver
Affordable
Housing Policies
On May 8,
1989, Council approved the following affordable housing objectives:
- Maintain
and expand housing opportunities in Vancouver for low and
moderate income households, with priority being given to
Downtown lodging house residents, elderly people on fixed and
limited incomes, the physically and mentally disabled, and
single-parent families with children.
- Encourage
the distribution of acceptable housing forms and affordable
shelter costs equally among all residential neighbourhoods of
Vancouver rather than concentrating them in a few areas.
- Facilitate
the provision of a wide range of housing forms and shelter costs
to meet the housing needs of existing and future Vancouver
residents of all backgrounds and lifestyles.
On October
17, 1989, Council further resolved to “adopt a broad objective to
maintain, upgrade, and increase the existing stock of low-cost
housing in the Downtown”.
On May 16,
1991, Council reiterated its intent to ensure one-for-one
replacement of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units in Downtown South
and endorsed the principle of developing new social housing,
constructing unsubsidized SRO replacement projects, and retaining
and upgrading the existing SRO stock, as required in the absence of
new replacement housing, with priority given to housing the existing
long-term Downtown South residents.
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