Vancouver councillor’s motion to diversify housing in Shaughnessy fails

A motion to unlock more housing in Vancouver’s Shaughnessy neighborhood failed to pass in city council Wednesday.

Coun. Christine Boyle says she proposed the motion in an attempt to open up the area, largely known for its single-family mansions, to more types of housing.

After statements made by the public and other councillors, the motion failed to pass 7-3. While the majority of speakers who phoned into the meeting were in support of the motion, some councillors from Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC platform strongly opposed it.

“The argument laid out in the motion I think is non-sensical,” Councillor Brian Montague said. “I don’t think we’re going to provide any actual density. There’s not going to be any measurable supply gained here. I think it’s just a distraction for staff that are actually working on viable housing solutions.”

Boyle says the motion was designed specifically to add density for non-profit, co-op housing, and mixed-income rentals.

“It’s important to the health and vibrancy of every neighbourhood, including Shaughnessy, that we continue to welcome neighbours in, that we build vibrant, walkable neighbourhoods,” she said.

Data from the City of Vancouver currently shows a lack of non-market housing — for low and moderate income singles and families — in the Shaughnessy neighborhood.

While proposing the motion, Boyle pointed out that Shaughnessy is one of few neighborhoods in Vancouver where the population has been in decline for the past 50 years.

Over that same time period, the population of the City of Vancouver grew by around 50 per cent and Metro Vancouver’s population grew by 157 per cent, the motion states.

“Pushing population growth outside of Shaughnessy has put added pressure on more affordable neighbourhoods across Vancouver, leading to higher housing costs and displacement from Vancouver,” the motion reads.

Boyle tells CityNews she is “both surprised and disappointed” that Sim and council were against building more houses in Shaughnessy.

This isn’t this isn’t how we take the housing crisis seriously, and we continue to hear excuses from Mayor Sem and ABC rather than a tangible action on the housing crisis,” she said. “This is one more example that they won’t do what needs to be done to address housing affordability in Vancouver.”

Boyle says comments on the motion frome other councillors were “insulting,” specifically those calling the motion divisive or politically motivated.

“The motion is motivated by the need to build more housing,” she said.

“I certainly ran on a commitment to address housing affordability, but so did everyone else around the council table and ABC seems unwilling to actually act on that commitment.”

With files from Srushti Gangdev