New ideas could be keys to affordable housing
Posted July 31, 2012 3:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The answer to Vancouver’s affordable housing crisis, could involve finding new property to develop, in places we don’t usually look.
An ideas competition, sponsored by the city, called re:Think Housing has come up with three winning concepts to help shape the future of development in the city.
Award of Excellence winner Andrew Neuman believes neighbours should be able to subdivide small portions of their properties together, so new lots could be created in between houses or along alleyways.
“The owner maintains partial ownership in that land. It’s beneficial for both a first time buyer because it brings the cost down, and it’s beneficial for the existing owner because now he has instant capital,” explains Neuman.
He just graduated from UBC with a masters in architecture, and says he knows first hand about the need for cheaper housing options.
“I can’t afford a house, and I want one,” says Neuman. “I look at my family, and I look at my situation, and there’s a lot of people like me that live in Vancouver, that want to stay in Vancouver. For me it’s like, how do we keep these people here?”
Neuman believes his idea could bring the price of a 700 square foot housing unit down to around $150,000.
Chris DeMarco also garnered accolades for her thin streets concept. She proposes roads with very low traffic should be cut in half, making room for a 33 foot wide lot on public land currently unused as part of the street right of way.
“There roughly would be enough room for a travel lane, and a parking lane, and then a new city lot’s created at the end of each block,” says DeMarco. “So you could do it right through the city, and create thousands of lots on free city land.”
She suggests there are a lot of streets running north-south through Vancouver, that would be well suited for this kind of transformation.
Architect Ian McDonald was the third winner, for his suggestion of bridge housing.
The idea involves builders using air rights above existing structures, to allow neighbouring condo developments to bridge across them.
He says it would mean businesses at street level could stay put, while development happens over top of them.
“The advantage is that it does not require a developer, or a municipality, or the provincial government to purchase an entire block (of properties). They only need to find two. They just need two points to support the load, like building a bench,” suggests McDonald.
He says it would be a win-win situation, creating new opportunities to increase Vancouver’s housing supply.
“The grocery store or the dry cleaner recieves a significant windfall, having sold their air rights, (and) they get to pump that into renovations,” McDonald surmises. “Plus they’ve now got a significant building over top of them so they know that there’s not going to be speculative developer pressure pushing up property values, and also pushing up property taxes,”
Vancouver will take a closer look at the winning proposals, as the city puts together a new affordable housing strategy this fall.
The ideas competition to encourage affordable housing recieved close to 70 proposals, some of them from international entrants.
