Part 8 from a discussion guide, Density in a City of Neighbourhoods – my perspective of a journey from the earliest years of land-abundant settlement to the towering glass city of 2012 – written for Carbon Talks at SFU.
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NEW ISSUES, NEW CHALLENGES
Those problems that were solved by increased density may have created new challenges, including ever-rising house prices, loss of downtown jobs, and consequent social problems including homelessness.
By the turn of the 21st century, the City was running out of options. It had used so much of its industrial and commercial base to build high-density condominiums, it was in danger of losing the places where jobs could be provided – reversing the achievement of its transportation policies. The conversion of ‘let-go’ industrial and commercial lands – Fraser Lands, Commercial Street, Burrard Slopes – accommodated new housing, but at the cost of potential job generation.
While “Vancouverism” may have been an effective mechanism for accommodating growth in a livable and environmentally responsible way, the architectural product – the City of Glass – got mixed reviews: too much of the same point- and podium-highrises in muted tones.
While those who chose to dwell in the new communities reported that they liked living there, it was only if they could afford it. In the face of a federal government retreat from housing policy, the City was unable to provide sufficient non-market housing. A lack of vacant land, zoning constraints, an inability to assemble sites, development cost levies, low mortgage rates, demographic shifts, affluent immigrants – a host of interacting reasons all pushed housing prices upward in Vancouver, even when prices dropped elsewhere.
By the turn of the century the City discovered it had a worsening problem of affordability, made acute by the lack of vacant land that had moderated housing costs for most of the previous century.
The most severe consequence was homelessness. For those with no means to afford any floor space except the street, the shortage became so apparent, and so tragic, that government had to respond.
On July 28, 2011, Council approved Vancouver’s Housing and Homelessness Strategy. The strategic directions in the Strategy tried to address all points along the housing continuum, from emergency shelters through to affordable rental housing and homeownership.
With respect to rental stock, the City had undertaken a number of initiatives to encourage new supply but given that the federal government was no longer using tax incentives or grants to fund housing, and municipal government’s resources were so limited, it was often left fighting a rear guard action just to protect the existing rental stock.
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Part 3: The Beginning of Densification
Part 4(a): The Modern Era – Transition
Part 4(b): The Modern Era – A Decade of Highrises
Part 6: Condos and Megaprojects
Part 7(a): Vancouver’s Greenest City Goals
Part 7(b): Vancouver’s Greenest City Goals
Density in a City of Neighbourhoods (full document)
