Affordable housing and poverty were the focus of Wednesday evening's mayoral and council all-candidates debate at Stride Elementary School in South Burnaby.
The debate was set up by the Burnaby Interagency Council, which includes Burnaby Community Connections and South Burnaby Neighbourhood House.
The first question from the council asked what candidates' plans are to ensure that affordable and accessible housing continues to be available in Burnaby.
TEAM Burnaby council candidate Graham Murchie said TEAM's solution is to form a task force on housing with 30-, 60-and 90-day deadlines.
The first step is creating a temporary emergency shelter demonstration, with shipping container housing on city land, he said.
The second is talking to residents about possible solutions, and the third is developing a new official community lan for Burnaby, Murchie added.
Murchie also suggested looking at Burnaby's bylaw on secondary rental suites, as only in-law suites are allowed in Burnaby at this time.
"That can solve a lot of affordable housing problems," he said.
Burnaby Municipal Green council candidate Rick McGowan said the Green's plan is to take 20 per cent of the city's density bonus money to establish affordable housing near SkyTrain stations.
The Green candidates also plan to return to former density rules, update the community plan, and focus on creating stacked, low-rise housing, he said.
Coun. Sav Dhaliwal spoke for the Burnaby Citizens Association, pointing out that the current council has put some of the density bonus funds towards housing, such as the Poppy Residences for seniors in South Burnaby.
But the city cannot do much without the cooperation of the provincial and federal governments, as housing is their responsibility, he stressed, adding that the city only gets eight cents of every property tax dollar, and has to cover city services including police and firefighters with that.
"It's not an option, for the city to pick up the slack," Dhaliwal said.
In regards to questions from the audience about why council increased property taxes and why it won't fund more affordable housing projects in the city, he pointed out they can't keep taxes low and finance housing projects.
"You can't have it both ways," he said. The second question from the interagency council asked candidates how they'd address the serious problem of poverty in the city.
Coun. Pietro Calendino of the BCA spoke to the issue first, pointing out that refugees and immigrants have come to Burnaby because of the stock of rental housing here.
He also said the city has protected rental housing by not allowing developers to come in and replace it with condominiums.
TEAM council candidate June Jeffries said the party plans to develop a $2-million emergency fund, to be managed by a nonprofit organization, to deal with immediate poverty issues in the city. The money would come from cutting excess spending, she said.
"What we don't need is to continue deliberating," she said.
Green council candidate Matthew Stuart said a creative plan is needed for poverty reduction.
The Greens plan to introduce a food policy to help low-income residents, to institute a living wage policy in Burnaby, and also propose a community transit pass for the city, he said.
Independent council candidate Nick Akvenich said the city needs to form a coalition to address poverty. He pointed to organizations such as the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver as good examples of getting things done.
"I'm hearing a lot of dreams about spending money here," Calendino said in his rebuttal, adding that would mean increasing taxes.
The third question from the interagency council asked how candidates would collaborate with other levels of government to address issues facing vulnerable populations.
TEAM council candidate Jim Favaro said the party plans to do an audit of resources available, and work with the community, while inviting the provincial and federal governments to the table to address the issues.
Mayor Derek Corrigan of the BCA pointed out that the city has tried to work with the province and federal governments in the past but many of these projects have fallen through because the other levels of government wouldn't commit to their share of each project.
Green candidate Carrie McLaren suggested working with community organizations that already have seed funding but need space, which the city could provide.
For an extended version of this story, and more election coverage including candidate profiles, go to www.burnabynow.com.
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