VANCOUVER—Professionals from as far afield as San Francisco and the United Kingdom gathered recently to share their incentives and insights on alternate policies and funding approaches for more affordable housing in Victoria and Vancouver.
At the “Inclusive City: Affordable Housing Strategies for the New Economy” conference, city councillors, developers, accountants, and architects discussed how to achieve the goal of affordable, sustainable, housing models in the two cities, both of which are sorely lacking in low-income housing.
Local experts also attended, including moderator Gregory Henriquez, of Henriquez Partners Architects, who coined the term "Inclusive Cities” and designed the Woodward's project, a mixed-income development complex in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The event itself was spearheaded by Melissa Estable of Terra Housing Consultants, a company that supports environmentally friendly building practices and helps non-profit groups and government agencies realize their housing goals.
"Our objective is to learn from other places how they make housing more affordable, to help develop a policy that can be implemented all over B.C.,” said Estable.
The conference, which took place at the WOSK Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver and at the Conference Centre in Victoria, focused on a realistic assessment of the present situation while exploring positive, forward-looking, outcomes.
Issues discussed include the affordability gap and how to bridge it; taxation and private corporate partnering in community housing; alternate ways to navigate a cost-driven market that leaves people homeless due to multiple home-buying practices; development speculation and fluctuating markets; and construction costs.
The fickle nature of these elements, coupled with incomes that no longer match the high cost of homes in the current market, has pushed individuals, families, and governments to explore alternate affordable options. These include co-op housing, subsidized housing, stratas, condos, and multi-functional units like the Woodwards project.
Despite a 23-unit development on Jackson Avenue and Cordova Street in Vancouver that opened April 9, housing advocates say there has been an upsurge in evictions from the West End and Commercial Drive through rent hikes and renovations ahead of the 2010 Olympics. Games’ organizers have been criticized for not delivering the 3,200 units of affordable housing they promised.
Sponsored by BC Housing, the Inclusive City conference garnished the attention of the Architecture Institute of British Columbia, the Planners Institute of British Columbia, and the Urban Development Institute.
Other speakers were Stuart Woodward and Simon Mitchell of Levvel, the UK's leading independent housing and planning consultancy, Tim Wake who works with BC and Alberta communities to establish affordable housing infrastructures and administration, and Abbie Conlee of Seifel Consulting, a woman-owned California firm that provides strategic real-estate and urban economic advisory theories.
“These speakers were deliberately chosen because their business practices are geared towards affordability in housing,” Estable said.
|
|
 |
|
Monday, March 15, 2010
|
