Every year, fewer kids trick-or-treat in the District of North Vancouver for Halloween. This was very evident as I visited my parents in the Edgemont Village neighbourhood for the evening.
“We only had 20 trick-or-treaters this year. When you were young we had over 100,” my mother said wistfully.
“It’s because young families can’t afford to live here anymore,” I replied.
“Nothing can be done about that,” she said quickly, changing the subject.
I smiled wryly.
Indeed, much can be done. In fact, there is a very simple reason why her adult offspring had no choice but to move to the City of North Van and East Van, and why so few families with young children are left here.
It’s because the District refuses to accept apartments.
The District is a sea of single-detached houses (SDHs, historically known as “single-family houses”), rarely selling for under $2 million. It is increasingly gentrified as only those households with several hundred thousand in annual income and a hefty down payment could come to live here. I know very few in my millennial generation that have managed to stay in the area, for (oftentimes illegal) basement suites are usually the only option and we are now in our prime family-forming years.
The luxury SDH market has cooled somewhat in the last few months, reflecting global patterns and reacting to provincial regulations, but there is still little chance of my average salary of $63,000 affording anything here - unless we can divide the land cost between more units. That means building apartments.
Apartments are cheaper than SDHs, which use up much more land per home. Thus, buildings with multiple units are affordable for those with average income, as this data illustrates:
The pattern is consistent from city to city: buildings with more units can house people of moderate means.
So why aren’t we building more apartments? The short answer: politics.
Take this example of the non-profit rental project proposal in Delbrook.
It is an excellent social housing project of 80 units, 25% of which offer deep affordability, which is subsidized by the units for those with relatively higher income (like me). The average cost is 20% below-market rent. It provides a seniors’ respite care facility. There is no displacement as it builds on a parking lot. This is precisely the kind of social housing we should be clamouring for. However, there is a vocal, unrepresentative minority in this neighbourhood, such as some Delbrook Community Association homeowners, that oppose this project.
I fear the newly elected mayor and council will halt this project, a much-needed step toward affordability, to cater to this opposition, which fights non-profit rental projects during a housing crisis. This opposition is the political headwind that is preventing bold strides for affordable homes in the District.
Let me remind the new council that the status quo is far less affordable. By saying no to non-profit rental projects, council will be effectively telling everyone who isn’t extremely wealthy, including their own children and grandchildren, to live elsewhere. Perhaps we’ll have to leave the West Coast altogether. Service workers would have to live further and further away, exacerbating traffic and emissions issues. I hold out hope that the new mayor Mike Little and council will take the bold steps needed to achieve affordability in the District and allow this project to move forward. We need it, and many more like it.
The fireworks were loud and echoing this year. I wonder how much more of a ghost town my hometown will become if it maintains the status quo and refuses apartments. How long will the District exclude middle class and young families? How much or how little will Mayor Little and council do for us future generations?
We will see on November 19th when they vote on the project.
If you support affordable, non-profit rental projects like this one in the District, please write a letter to council at [email protected] or use this simple tool: http://www.abundanthousingvancouver.com/letter_generator?p=600westqueens
Jennifer Maiko Bradshaw is a renter, data analyst, and activist of Abundant Housing Vancouver.
