Vancouver City Council approves Broadway Plan

A 30-year plan to massively transform hundreds of blocks along the Broadway Corridor in Vancouver has been approved by City Council.

After weeks of debate and amendments, it passed by a vote of 7- 4 Wednesday night.

Among those who voted against the plan was Councillor Jean Swanson, who feels many residents are being ignored, with tens of thousands people in Vancouver in ‘housing need.”

“We’re supposed to be planning for everyone and it seems to me a lot are left out of this plan,” she told council. “My ‘no’ vote can be taken as a plea for all government to get their acts together.”

Some renters in the Broadway corridor and surrounding areas voiced concerns they will be priced out of an already unaffordable market. However, the approved plan includes new protections for renters who might be displaced by future development.

#BREAKING: After a lot of debate Vancouver City Council has approved the controversial 30 year Broadway Plan. The vote passed 7-4. More @CityNewsVAN #vanpoli #bcpoli https://t.co/ymS5AjUyqs pic.twitter.com/MPa22tXIl1

— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) June 23, 2022

Councillor Sara Kirby-Yung voted to approve the plan and its many amendments, including renter protections.

“We need to ensure we have mechanisms in place to protect existing renters and the current affordable rentals. That is why I believe the plan that staff brought forward, at the direction of council, did present some of the strongest renter protections in the country, including the right for tenants to return at rents comparable or lower than their previous rent.”

Councillor Adriane Carr calls that an achievement.

“Many of the amendments are addressing the need for truly affordable housing. That is a crisis in our city, it has gotten worse and worse despite best efforts,” she says. ”

“The fact that it’s two-thirds rental, for example, and that we are going to be zoning for social, non-profit, supportive housing and co-ops, and that there are going to be sites for non-profit housing.”

In a statement, Mayor Kennedy Stewart lauded the approval of the Broadway Plan.

“I promised to put renters first and tonight Council passed a plan that ensures Vancouver’s prosperity is shared with everyone – people who call Broadway home today and 50,000 new neighbours who will move to Broadway over the next 30 years.”

Related Articles: 

• Broadway Plan vote expected at Vancouver City Hall Wednesday

• ‘Amendment to the amendment’: Vancouver Broadway Plan meeting lasts 7 hours with no decision

• New protections approved for renters in the Broadway Plan

• Vancouver mayoral candidate wants decision for Broadway Plan to come after civic election

Kit Sauder, the co-chair of the city’s Rental Advisory Committee believes the plan will have a positive impact on Vancouver as a whole, building a more “vibrant and resilient city” in the coming decades.

“This is a huge ‘sea change’ in planning in the city of Vancouver. The Broadway Plan commits to two-thirds of all planned builds to being at-market, below-market, and non-market rentals.” he tells CityNews.

“What we are looking at is a complete break with the last 15 years where we saw for-profit condo development eating up affordability in our city. Instead, what we are seeing is a compromise being made that ensures people who are the backbone of our city — our artists, our baristas, or hospital workers, our tech workers — are all being provided the opportunity to move into affordable rentals exactly where they need to live to be able to walk across the street to work, to plan a family, and to build their future in our city.”

The City says enhanced protections include:

• Paid relocation to a temporary rental with a top-up keeping interim rents the same;

• The right of first refusal to return to the new development; and

• Rent at 20 percent below CMHC’s city-wide average rents or existing rent – whichever is lower.

The plan also includes improvements to active transportation, including all-ages and abilities bike lanes, and additional investment into childcare, parks, plazas, cultural spaces, and community amenities.