Vancouver Council Denies Proposal to Limit Broadway Plan Growth

The Vancouver City Council rejected a proposed change to the city’s Broadway Plan that would have put a cap on the number of development proposals considered each year through a “pace of change” policy, reports Kenneth Chan for Daily Hive.

The proposal came from city staff who estimated that as many as 2,000 residents in the existing residential areas affected by the plan. “The Broadway Plan’s area is home to 25% of Vancouver’s secured rental housing stock, with much of this supply in the area deemed to be within the affordable range due to the older age of the buildings,” Chan explains.

“City staff assert existing renters have nowhere else to go due to extremely low vacancies across the region, and new development projects could be tied up by the Broadway Plan’s Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy (TRPP) of requiring developers to find temporary replacement housing for impacted tenants before they can get shovels into the ground — something developers may not be able to do with ease given the existing rental housing shortages.”

City councillors largely rejected the proposal, saying it would slow down development and act in opposition to the goals of the Broadway Plan. “ABC councillor Peter Meiszner said he is confident with the ‘very strong’ tenant protection and relocation programs in place, which are ‘the strongest in North America.’ He says ‘bold action’ is needed to deliver more housing, with incoming record levels of immigration and dwindling rental vacancies.”