A Burnaby housing policy that used to require developers to build 20% affordable rental apartments in their new developments will, for the first time, exclude about a third of the city.
Developers in Edmonds Town Centre, an area with one of the lowest median incomes in Burnaby, can’t support the costs of building the non-market rental homes “due to the lower development revenues currently experienced in Edmonds,” according to a staff report approved by council Oct. 7.
Staff recommended delaying the new non-market rental requirements in Southeast Burnaby, an area including Edmonds, “until such time that inclusionary rental requirements become financially viable.”
In the meantime, staff recommended requiring 10% market rental for developments of more than six storeys in Southeast Burnaby as part of updating the city’s rental-use zoning policy.
Staff say the recommendation, which also included reducing affordable rates, comes as a result of provincial housing legislation that requires cities to turn certain affordable housing policies into bylaws.
Bylaws are more stringent and require financial analysis showing the bylaw won’t deter development.
While no below-market rental homes have been completely built in Edmonds through Burnaby’s policy to date, according to the report, there are at least 970 in the development process in the Southgate City development.
Coun. Alison Gu stressed the need for newly built affordable rentals in Edmonds, calling it a “very tough pill to swallow” to think no non-market rentals would be built in Edmonds under the policy.
She asked staff to report on whether developers could build market strata units outside of Edmonds in exchange for building at least 5% below-market rental units in Edmonds, rented at median rates.
Staff will be required to explain whether that ratio is viable for developers making a rezoning application.
The median rent in Southeast Burnaby is currently $1,377, which the city said is about a 40% discount on market rents.
Gu also asked that below-market rentals still be required at the Southgate development, a 60-acre development planned with about 20 towers, as she said the homes are being marketed at prices similar to Brentwood.
Gu’s amendment passed unanimously.
Staff noted there are a “significant” number of land holdings by the provincial government and various housing organizations in Southeast Burnaby that could be used to build affordable housing outside of the rental-use zoning policy.
Mayor Mike Hurley told the Burnaby NOW he was disappointed the city had to reduce the affordability requirements and put the blame onto the provincial government.
“Everything the province has done is slow housing down, by at least two years, maybe five years,” he said.
The province says the legislation supports proactive planning to build more housing while contributing to reduced timelines for development applications.
Housing advocate wants more rentals
Local housing advocate and city hall watcher Joel Gibbs said the rental-use zoning policy has failed.
“It has failed and continues to be utterly lacking in actually providing nearly enough rental housing that's needed in Burnaby,” Gibbs said.
He criticized the recommendation to eliminate the requirement of affordable rental housing in Edmonds, noting the neighbourhood’s high proportion of low-income renters and families at risk of displacement.
“And then they have nowhere to go within Edmonds. We’re not going to build any new place for them – we’re going to build condos, which have no security of tenure for renters.”
“There’s a huge gap in the city supposedly caring about renters and then what their actual policies dictate.”
He suggested creating a rental-only zone, in which the city requires a certain number of storeys to be rental-only, whether rented at market or non-market rates.
He also suggested the city allow developers to give the city land for the Burnaby Housing Authority in lieu of providing the affordable housing themselves.
