Illustration of people walking, shopping, and looking out of windows on a busy city street

Vancouver seeks to fast-track social and co-operative housing

September 18 2024 –

In response to City Council’s directive to accelerate affordable housing, the City is proposing bold changes as part of a comprehensive transformation of the development process. These changes aim to simplify and expedite the construction of social and cooperative housing by non-profits.

If approved, Vancouver’s Social Housing Initiative would eliminate the need for individual rezonings, which can be costly and unpredictable. It would streamline development of social housing from six to 18 stories, depending on the neighbourhood type, providing much-needed housing for seniors on income assistance, families with children, construction workers, and early childhood educators, among others.

This new initiative is a key component in realizing one of the Vancouver Plan’s three Big Ideas: equitable housing and complete neighbourhoods, and it’s designed to support non-profit and cooperative housing groups in delivering housing Vancouver desperately needs.

Key benefits of the Social Housing Initiative include:

  • Expedited approval processes: By removing the rezoning requirement, the initiative will speed up the approval process for social, supportive, and cooperative housing projects, directly addressing the pressing demand for affordable homes in Vancouver.
  • Cost and risk reduction: The proposed changes will significantly lower the costs and reduce the risks associated with rezoning for non-profit housing organizations. This reduction in financial and operational barriers will allow non-profits to access essential senior government funding for building and operating social and cooperative housing.
  • Support for equitable housing and complete neighbourhoods: The initiative would help non-profits provide opportunities for people of all income levels, particularly low- and moderate-income households, to live in all neighbourhoods. These areas will feature a mix of affordable homes, shops, and essential services like childcare, creating more inclusive communities across Vancouver.
  • Alignment with provincial legislation: The changes are in line with new Provincial legislative measures aimed at increasing and accelerating the delivery of new homes across Metro Vancouver and British Columbia. This alignment ensures that the City’s efforts are supported at multiple levels of government.

Next Steps:

For those interested in learning more about the proposed changes, the City will be hosting a series of information sessions: 

A Public Hearing will be held regarding these proposed changes in 2025. 

Links:

Background:

The Vancouver Plan is the City's unified city-wide land-use vision, aimed at creating a more livable, affordable, and sustainable urban environment for all residents. Adopted by City Council in July 2022, the Plan’s focus is on three Big Ideas identified through a multi-year public engagement process: creating more equitable housing and complete neighbourhoods, an economy that works for all, and climate protection and restored ecosystems. Informed by the Plan’s three core principles of Reconciliation, equity and resilience, implementation is currently underway. 

The next step of the Vancouver Plan implementation includes planning for Villages, which ties directly into Vancouver’s Social Housing Initiative. The plan identifies 25 Villages across the city to increase housing options like 6-storey apartments, townhouses, and multiplexes, and provide affordable and social housing. Staff will present a work program to Council, with community engagement planned for fall.

Public engagement for the Vancouver Plan spanned over two and a half years, and reached more than 52,480 engagement touchpoints, including over 25,000 survey responses in multiple languages. We hosted hundreds of workshops, including 100 youth workshops, 29 neighbourhood workshops and more than 100 meetings with stakeholder organizations and community groups. In addition to broad public and stakeholder engagement, added emphasis was placed on centering the voices that have typically been left out of planning conversations, particularly equity-denied and under-represented groups. As the Vancouver Plan is implemented, there will be more opportunities for individuals to share their thoughts.