When it comes to the availability of affordable housing, Vancouver is a midsized city with a big-city problem.
That issue was brought to the forefront in December, when residents of the Courtyard Village Apartments in the Rose Village neighborhood started receiving legal notices that they must vacate their homes. MF Parc Central, the new owner of the complex, has expressed a desire to upgrade the domiciles and, as a result, raise the rent — effectively tossing a large chunk of low- and fixed-income residents into the street.
Not that the Courtyard residents are alone. Apartment managers at several other complexes also are pricing many residents out of their homes. As Midge Latta, who lives at The Pines near Wal-Mart on East Mill Plain told Columbian reporter Scott Hewitt, “When they’re done paying their rent, they’ll have maybe $120 for food for the whole month. These are people who are struggling. … I want to know where are the less-expensive apartments in this town?”
Where, indeed? More important, what can be done about it?
As noted, this is not unique to Vancouver. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, for example, spent much of his State of the City Address on Tuesday outlining plans to increase affordable housing in the nation’s largest city. The Los Angeles Times, for another example, wrote editorially last month that “Los Angeles has a shortage of housing, yet the city has done little over the years to add more low-rent or market-rate units.”
Vancouver’s issues are much different from those of a megatropolis, yet they are no less crucial to those who are affected. Most important, they speak directly to how this nation treats its most needy citizens. As Charlene Welch of the Council for the Homeless said of the Courtyard Village residents, “Nobody who lives there is equipped to move. They are stressed.” Andy Silver, director of the Council for the Homeless, added, “We don’t want a community where Courtyard Village is the norm.”
Considering that the region’s apartment vacancy rate is less than 2 percent, solutions might be a long time in coming. The market right now benefits landlords, who can rest assured that plenty of tenants are available to fill vacant spaces. Yet some methods are available for restoring balance to the equation.
Bellevue, Seattle, and other jurisdictions have adopted a tax exemption that gives developers a break for including income-restricted units in their buildings. That sometimes creates other issues, as a similar program in New York has led to separate entrances for rich and poor in some buildings — so-called “poor doors.” Seattle also has a requirement that property owners must provide “reasonable relocation assistance” for displaced low-income residents.
Locally, the Vancouver City Council will hold a workshop at 4 p.m. Feb. 23 in the council chambers to discuss the issue.
It is reasonable to question the need for government to address low-income housing rather than letting market forces solve the problem, but for many residents the options come down to affordable apartments or homelessness. Many people in need of below-market housing are disabled or elderly or trying to raise families on slim incomes. And the reality is that government should institute policies that ease the housing crunch or face a big bill to provide social services down the road.
Vancouver has a big problem when it comes to affordable housing. It will require some big ideas to help solve it.
