While Vancouver is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most liveable cities, many of its residents cannot afford to live it anymore.
Indeed, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city staggers around $2000 per month, which is out of reach for most residents in the city.
Many have blamed the crisis on foreign ownership, and an empty homes tax was instated in order to try and combat the issue; however, many don’t believe that the problem will be resolved with taxing these owners. In fact, they don’t think that the fines for not paying the tax are high enough, or that the there won’t ways of ensuring people are telling the truth are actually effective.
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In addition, many people think that the current influx of people renting out their properties for Airbnb has made even less space available for rent.
Now, the City of Vancouver has proposed that some areas should be rental-only zones that provide more affordable housing in the city.
Rental-Only Zoning in Vancouver
At this time, the city’s news plans have stated that 50 per cent of 72,000 new homes estimated to be built over the next 10 years will be affordable to households earning less than $80,000 per year. The ambitious new plan hopes to curb skyrocketing prices, but there are still a multitude of details to work out.
“And even though more than half the city rents, purpose-built rentals have become pretty much a unicorn. The vacancy rate is near zero. As part of an effort to address the crisis, the city is considering the creation of designated areas of the city for rental housing only. The city currently doesn’t have the authority to create rental-only areas: That authority must come from the province,” reports the Globe and Mail.
Should Vancouver have rental-only zoning? Would this actually help lower the cost of housing in the city? Is it fair? If not, what would be a more viable alternative?
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