David Hulchanski teaches housing and community development at the University of Toronto and was a professor at the University of British Columbia in the 1980’s. In December he came to Vancouver to give the Warren Gill lecture at Simon Fraser University on The Socio-Spatial Restructuring of Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.
Dr. Hulchanski has been researching the growing divide between the rich and the poor in Vancouver where the west side and downtown areas are becoming more wealthy, the middle class is moving more to the east side, and the lowest income population is leaving the city entirely. This wave of change is counter to the changes that intuitively happen in most cities. Dr. Hulchanski was quoted in this article by Jen St. Denis of Metro News
“People are being excluded from specific parts of the region by income. That’s always gone on, but it’s massively going on now. This is a spatial segregation of people.”
Dr. Hulchanski was critical of the federal government’s newly announced Housing Strategy which has a confusing set of objectives, but believes more locally supported policy like Vancouver’s new housing plan is important. The local strategy envisions 36,000 housing units for those earning less than $80,000 a year. He also described the impact of private and public trends and policies in cities, noting ” A just city demands that all developments must be in the service of everyone.”
Dr. Hulchanski was critical of the federal government’s newly announced Housing Strategy which has a confusing set of objectives, but believes more locally supported policy like Vancouver’s new housing plan is important. The local strategy envisions 36,000 housing units for those earning less than $80,000 a year. He also described the impact of private and public trends and policies in cities, noting ” A just city demands that all developments must be in the service of everyone.”
If you missed the lecture, the video is now up on Simon Fraser University’s City Program Channel at this link.
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Reblogged this on Sandy James Planner.
Answer seems pretty simple: stop approving luxury condos and McMansions. Get the zoning power from the province if necessary, the city hasn’t had as receptive a provincial government for nearly two decades.