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WCEL
> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part
5 > Support Rental Housing > Housing Agreements
Smart Bylaws Guide – Support Rental Housing – Housing
Agreements
Several municipalities help to create affordable housing using
public-private partnerships as part of comprehensive development
zoning, rezoning and density bonus processes. The developer
agrees to dedicate a percentage of the units for rental or
non-market housing, and municipalities enter into a housing
agreement with the developer to spell out the details of the housing
terms. Housing agreements can also include other parties such
as non-profit housing organizations, and are registered as a notice
on the title to the land.
Terms and conditions of housing agreements can address:
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Tenure of the units (who owns them and how long they will be
rental or non-market);
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Availability of the units to specific groups such as seniors or
persons with disabilities;
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Amount of rent; and
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Management of the units.
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A frequent municipal strategy is to require developers to include
rental and non-market housing in market-rate and strata-ownership
developments. For example, the City of Vancouver obtained 30
units of affordable rental housing as part of the rezoning approval
for a downtown housing development titled The Edge in which the
other 120 units are strata-title market units. The rezoning
was from industrial to residential live/work and the City obtained
22 of the units as part of the rezoning. It purchased the
other eight units with a 25-year mortgage that will be paid off by
the rental income from the 30 units. In effect, the City is
obtaining public benefits with no public subsidy. Fifteen of
the units are rented to low income tenants at the BC shelter
allowance rate and the other 15 are rented at low market rates.
(Adapted from
Rental
Housing Planning Guide 2002)
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Many municipalities do not own and manage the units but transfer
the units to non-profit housing societies to manage and/or own.
Examples of Municipal Policies Supporting Rental Housing Using
Housing Agreements
Downtown
District and IC-3 District Policies and Procedures for Low Coast
Rental Artists Studios (Vancouver)
Downtown
District Low Cost Housing Policies and Procedures (Vancouver)
Draft
Density Bonus Policy (Victoria)
City
of Revelstoke Housing Agreement Bylaw #1573, 1998
Examples of Housing Agreements
Housing Agreement for 596 East Hastings – Report
to Council & Housing
Agreement
Housing Agreement for 727 Keefer Street – Report
to Council
For More Information
Density
Bonus
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