February 2016

DRAFT RENTAL AND AFFORDABLE

HOUSING STRATEGY

District of North Vancouver

Last revised Feb 25, 2016 District of North Vancouver I Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy I Page 2

Table of Contents Need for a Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy………………………………………………..……………….……….3 Intent of this Strategy………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…...3 Policy Context…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…4 Focus for this Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy………………………………………………………………….….5 Estimated demand for rental and affordable housing………………………………………………………………………..6 Affordability for low to moderate income households………………………………………………….……………………7 Key rental and affordable housing goals……………………………………………………………………………….….……8

Expand the supply and diversity of housing………………………………….………..……………………………..….9

Prioritize retention and maintenance of affordable housing outside centres……………………………………….…10

Enable replacement of existing affordable housing (with conditions)………………………………………….….…..11

Minimize impacts to existing tenants ………………………………………………………………………………….….12

Expand supply of new affordable rental and affordable housing………………………………………………………13

Partner with other agencies to deliver affordable housing………………………………………………………….…..14 Potential affordable housing partners………………………………………………………………………………………….15 Summary of action plan and implementation items…………………………………………………………………………16

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Need for a Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy As guided by the North Vancouver District’s Official Community Plan (OCP), increasing housing choices to meet the diverse needs of residents of all ages and incomes is a key objective for the community. The OCP also identifies the need for a rental and affordable housing strategy to address the housing needs of low to moderate income earning households. While important strides have been made to increase the type and tenure of housing through revitalization and mixed use redevelopment of the designated town and village centres; the need for rental and affordable housing continues to be a growing concern for the District, and other municipalities region wide. Emerging interest in redeveloping existing rental, older strata, and fractional interest multi-family residential properties in the District has prompted concerns from Council over the potential loss of more affordable housing units and the displacement of lower to moderate income residents. Affordable housing scarcity and low rental vacancy rates (0.7% average from 2005 - 2014) have made finding suitable and affordable housing challenging for many households in the District, and particularly those with lower incomes. There is an ongoing need for more affordable market rental and ownership housing choices for:

lower income households which may include couple families with children, single person households, and lone parent families;

lower income seniors looking to downsize in areas close to community amenities and services;

students who may be looking to rent smaller units on a short-term basis; and

workers that are employed in the District, but may be forced to commute from other municipalities where housing may be more affordable; and

households that are priced out of single detached housing, but need additional space (especially ground oriented) for children or extended family members.

This Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy provides direction to address the housing needs of low to moderate income earning households. It also recognizes the important role of partnerships in collaborating to provide housing for low incomes residents.

Intent of this strategy Through the implementation of the Official Community Plan and other relevant policies, and the administration of the land development application and review process, the District has an opportunity to advance key objectives towards protecting existing rental stock and creating additional affordable housing. This Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy aims to guide developers, community, Council and staff towards achieving goals and meeting estimated demand for rental and affordable housing in the District. It is also intended to supplement, and provide additional detail to inform existing housing policies in the Official Community Plan, Centres Implementation Plans and relevant Corporate Policies.

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Policy Context The Local Government Act requires that Official Community Plans indicate the approximate location, amount, type and density of residential development required to meet anticipated housing needs over a period of at least 5 years; and include housing policies respecting affordable housing, rental housing and special needs housing. The Local Government Act also enables the use of zoning and regulatory mechanisms to encourage affordable housing through density bonus zoning and reduced parking regulations, creation of reserve funds for specified purposes, and the use of community amenity contributions from new development for public benefits and community amenities including affordable housing. The Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy (Metro 2040 – Shaping Our Future) requires local governments to develop complete, mixed use, transit oriented communities and to prepare housing action plans that assess housing supply and demand, identify strategies to meet projected housing needs, mitigate or limit the loss of existing rental housing stock where appropriate, and encourage the supply of new rental housing. The Draft Regional Affordable Housing Strategy presents five (5) key goals to address the rental and affordable housing needs of low to moderate income earning households and the Regional Homelessness Plan gives direction to end homeless in the region. The District’s Official Community Plan (Bylaw 7900, 2011) directs the location of 75 - 90% of new residential units to key growth centres. Key housing objectives and policies in the Plan provide direction to:

increase housing choice/diversity and affordability across the full continuum of housing;

enable people to remain in the community and to meet changing community needs;

attract young families with affordable and appropriately sized family housing;

locate housing closer to jobs, services and transit;

encourage the retention of existing, and the development of new rental housing units; and

work with community partners and senior levels of government to provide for non-market housing. The OCP also identifies a target to 2030, of a net increase in rental housing in the District. Other housing related policies include:

Community Amenity Policy (Updated 2016)

Accessible Design Policy for Multi-Family Residential Apartments (2015)

Coach House amendment to the Zoning Bylaw (2014)

Centre Implementation Plan Housing Policies (2013)

Strata Rental Protection Corporate Policy (2013)

Multi-Family Rental Housing Demolition Notice (2003)

Standard of Maintenance Bylaw (1997)

Secondary Suites amendment to Zoning Bylaw (1997)

Strata Rental Conversion Corporate Policy (1995)

Housing Corporate Policy (1995)

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Focus for this Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy High land values and current market conditions typically favour strata versus rental development. At the same time, the absence of government subsidies for households earning approximately $30,000 to $50,000 per year has contributed to a rent gap so that many households are paying more than 30% of their income on housing. All these factors have contributed to a high demand and short supply of low end market rental and market rental housing regionally. Policies and actions outlined in this Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy are aimed at addressing the needs of low and low to moderate income earning households earning an estimated 30 - 50% and 50 - 80%, respectively, of the District’s median household income. This area of focus roughly coincides with the social housing, low end market rental and market rental housing segments of the District’s housing continuum.

Housing continuum and key area of focus for rental and affordable housing

Key area of focus for Rental and Affordable Housing

Note that this focus in not intended to replace, but to complement other District initiatives and programs in other areas of the housing continuum. For example, the District has been successful in partnering with government and non-profit agencies in the delivery of transitional and supportive housing. This work is anticipated to continue as opportunities present, and in response to demonstrated community need.

Very low income Households >30% of MHI

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Estimated demand for rental and affordable housing The number of District households in core need (living in housing that is inadequate, unsuitable or unaffordable) and spending at least half of their households income (INALH) on housing provides an estimate of the current affordable housing demand in the District.

Renter and owner households in core need and spending at least half of the income on housing (2011 Census data). One other source on current demand is the BC Housing Waitlist for Social Housing. For North Vancouver (District and City) there were 606 households on the waitlist in 2015. Of these, 242 (40%) were seniors, 101 (17%) were persons with disabilities and 263 (43%) were families and other households. Regionally, the BC Housing waitlist for senior’s social housing now exceeds that for family housing. In addition, the waitlist for persons with disabilities has increased substantially in the past 5 years. This information suggests that inclusion of accessible design features in rental and affordable housing is important. The Metro Vancouver 2040 Regional Growth Strategy and the Draft Regional Affordable Housing Strategy provide two sets of estimates for calculating the 10 year future demand for rental and affordable housing in the District.

Metro Vancouver 10 year future demand estimates for rental and affordable housing in the District. Using these metrics as a guide, and given the need to address current affordable housing needs, this Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy estimates that the demand for all rental housing in the next 10 years is between 700 – 1,400 units and the demand for affordable rental units for low and low to moderate income households in the next 10 years is between 600 – 1,000 units. This translates to building an estimated 60 - 100 affordable rental units per year.

Households in core need and

Total Households

Renter Households

Owner Households

INALH 1,520 680 840

Total Rental Demand

Low income Households

Low to Moderate Income Households

Moderate and Above Income Households

Calculation methodology

MV 2040: Regional Growth Strategy (2011)

1,400

500

500

400

Calculation based on municipal distribution/share of regional rental tenure

Draft Regional Affordable Housing Strategy (2015)

700

440

120

120

Household maintainer rates used to consider local housing market conditions

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Affordability for low to moderate income households

Housing is generally considered to be “affordable” when a household spends no more than 30% of their gross household income on shelter costs (rent, mortgage payments, property taxes, strata fees and heating costs). For the purposes of this Rental and Affordable Housing Strategy, housing affordability concerns are associated with low to moderate income earning households. The tables below estimate affordable monthly housing costs for low to moderate income households, both renters and owners, in the District. Median household incomes are based on 2011 Statistics Canada census data.

Table 1. Estimated affordable monthly costs for low to moderate income renter households.

OWNER HOUSEHOLDS Gross Annual

Income

Affordable Monthly Housing Cost

Estimated Mortgage (REBGV House Price Index, June 2015)

Median Household Income (MHI) for all Owners in DNV

$97,656 $2,441 Mortgage based on 10% down payment, 4%

interest over 25 years. Note that additional mortgage insurance costs may apply.

Low to Moderate Income Households (earning 50% - 80% of MHI)

$48,828 - $78,125 $1,221 - $1,953

Townhouse HPI = $650,100 Monthly mortgage = $3,078

Low Income Households (earning < 50% of MHI)

< $48,828 < $1,221 Apartment Price = $370,600 Monthly mortgage = $1,754

Table 2. Estimated affordable monthly costs for low to moderate income owner households. Based on the above, low to moderate income renter households with an affordable monthly housing cost of $646 – $1,034 will experience challenges in meeting their housing needs even in older purpose built rental units. Low income renter households have an even greater funding gap for shelter.

RENTER HOUSEHOLDS Gross Annual

Income

Affordable Monthly Housing Cost

Estimated Rents (typical 2-bed unit) (Rental listings, 2015)

Median Household Income (MHI) for all Renters in DNV

$51,700 $1,293

New purpose built market rental = $1,800 - $2,200 New strata rental unit = $2,200 - $2,500

Low to Moderate Income Households (earning 50% - 80% of MHI)

$25,850 - $41,360 $646 - $1,034

Older purpose built market rental unit = $1,451

Low Income Households (earning < 50% of MHI)

< $25,850 < $646 Secondary suite = $1,300

NOTE: The limited availability of household income data (provided every 5 years) creates challenges for comparing income to house prices and rental rates that are available monthly or annually. Adjusting median household income levels by the annual rate of inflation has been suggested as one potential solution to this issue.

For comparison purposes, CMHC 2016 Affordability Levels for a two-bedroom unit in the Vancouver region are as follows:

Monthly Level/Percentile Rental Rate

Level 1 (80th) $1,700

Level 2 (65th) $1,430

Level 3 (50th) $1,238

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Key rental and affordable housing goals As informed by community needs and the housing context, this strategy identifies six key goals that provide a framework for rental and affordable housing policies and action plans.

Each goal and associated policies and action plans are discussed in turn, in the following sections.

Expand the supply and diversity

of housing

Prioritize retention of affordable housing outside centres

Minimize impacts to existing tenants

Expand supply of new rental and

affordable housing

Enable replacement of existing affordable housing (with conditions)

Partner with other agencies to deliver affordable housing

1 2 3

4 5 6

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Expand the supply and diversity of housing

Policy: 1. Continue to encourage diversity and growth of housing in town

and village centres and in accordance with OCP and Centre Implementation Plan policies.

2. Ensure that housing supply includes a diverse mix of built forms and unit sizes to accommodate the needs of families and other households.

Action Plan: 1. Monitor the District’s housing inventory over time, and use this

information to adjust housing form and affordability demand estimates to better respond to changing community needs.

2. Continue to apply the Strata Rental Protection and Accessible

Design Policy for Multi-Family Residential Apartments policies.

A healthy supply and diversity of housing types encourages competitive pricing for dwelling units and provides choices for residents in meeting their housing needs. Housing diversity should encompass a variety of housing forms, tenure, unit sizes and meet applicable accessibility standards. The OCP anticipates 10,000 net new units in the District to 2030. As we move towards 2030, the District will remain a suburban community largely characterized by single detached housing. However, redevelopment of our town and village centres will result in an increase in the number of apartment and ground oriented forms of housing.

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Policy: 1. Prioritize maintenance, restoration and retention of existing

older rental buildings outside of centres.

2. Continue to enforce acceptable standards of maintenance for rental properties.

3. Continue to apply strata rental protection policies.

Action Plan: 1. Update the Standard of Maintenance Bylaw to provide

additional clarity on maintenance best practices.

2. Work with community partners and other agencies to develop solutions to retain non-profit, social and co-operative housing potentially impacted by expiring operating agreements.

The vast majority of dwellings in the District are owned versus rented (19% rental households to 81% owner households based on 2011 census stats). As rising land values place home ownership out of reach for more and more residents, retaining and growing our rental stock remains a key community objective. Besides market rental, there are approximately 682 units of government subsidized non-profit housing, and 342 co-operative housing units in the District. The pending expiry of Provincial operating agreements may place many of these non-profit and co-op housing projects at risk.

Prioritize retention of existing affordable housing outside centres

2

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Enable replacement of existing affordable housing

Action Plan: 1. Continue to monitor the number, size and affordability of

existing and new affordable units by area, on an annual basis and compare to projected demand estimates.

2. Provide guidance to developers on unit sizes, mix and affordability in response to community profiles and community need.

Existing purpose built market rental housing provides a key source of more affordable, larger rental housing for moderate and lower income households and families. Primarily created through Federal government housing incentives, most of the District’s existing purpose rental housing stock was constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Since that time, the lack of a gradual renewal of the purpose built market rental housing stock has contributed to the current affordable housing shortfall in the District. In the absence of municipal policies to protect the existing rental stock, many of these buildings are under development pressure given high land values and unused development capacity under existing zoning and land use.

Policy: 1. Where opportunities for onsite maintenance, renovation and

restoration have been exhausted, rental redevelopment proposals may be considered based on their demonstrated ability to:

i. provide rental replacement at a ratio which may be less

than 1:1 as long as these replacement units are affordable to low and moderate income households;

ii. ensure affordable units that are integrated as part of market housing development; and

iii. include a diverse mix of unit sizes, including 3+ bedrooms for families.

2. Prioritize redevelopment within town and village centres where residents will have ready access to frequent transit, commercial and other community services.

3

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Policy: 1. Require existing purpose built rental redevelopment projects to

(as a minimum) adhere to the Tenant Assistance Policy, to provide assistance to tenants in the search for new housing.

2. Where redevelopment is being considered, work with land owners and developers to explore a phased approach to development to minimize impacts to existing tenants.

Action Plan: 1. Develop a Tenant Assistance Policy, to be applied at

rezoning, to provide assistance for tenants where existing rental buildings are to be redeveloped.

Redevelopment pressures and potential demolition of older multi-family rental buildings has raised significant concerns for potentially

displaced renters who may face significant challenges in meeting their affordable housing needs in a low vacancy rate climate. Council has

requested the development of a Tenant Assistance Policy that outlines procedures to assist current tenants in finding alternative and affordable accommodation. Such a policy may include procedures to provide advance notice to tenants, assistance with relocation, moving cost allowance, right of first refusal in the new building, long term tenant bonus, and/ or other measures.

Minimize impacts to existing tenants 4

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Policy: 1. Expand the supply of rental and affordable rental housing in a

manner that is consistent with the OCP, and enables low and moderate income households to access frequent transit, community services, retail and employment within walking distance from their residences.

2. Encourage and consider innovative ways to deliver rental and affordable housing.

3. Ensure a diversity of unit sizes in rental and affordable housing to accommodate the needs of families, seniors, first time homebuyers, students and other households.

4. Require that multi-family residential projects undergoing

rezoning contribute to the provision of affordable housing by: i. Providing land dedicated for affordable housing (typically

larger sites); ii. Providing a cash in lieu community amenity contribution

towards an Affordable Housing Opportunities fund (typically smaller sites);

iii. Including a portion of affordable rental or ownership units as part of the project;

iv. Some combination of the above, as appropriate for the site.

Action Plan: 1. Identify potential sites for new rental and affordable housing.

2. Develop an Affordable Housing Opportunities Fund with

appropriate policy to guide its use.

3. Explore opportunities for density bonus zoning and height adjustment for the delivery of affordable housing.

4. Explore opportunities for additional parking reductions for affordable rental apartments located in frequent transit development areas.

In addition to seeking to retain existing rental and affordable housing, the District needs to encourage the supply of new rental and affordable housing to meet the projected needs of all District residents to 2030. The majority of this new housing is anticipated to be provided in key growth centres as designated in the OCP.

Expand supply of new rental and affordable housing 5 5. Consider the use of incentives to encourage the provision of

new rental and affordable housing. Such incentives may include:

i. Consideration of 0.75 parking spaces and 0.1 visitor

parking spaces per unit for market rental apartments located in frequent transit development areas, and where appropriate transportation demand management measures can be provided;

ii. Consideration of further reduced parking requirements for affordable rental apartments located in frequent transit development areas, and where appropriate transportation demand management measures can be provided; and/or

iii. Consideration of increased density and height for the delivery of affordable housing.

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Partner with other agencies to deliver affordable housing

Policy: 1. Actively seek opportunities to work with housing agencies,

senior governments and other community partners in the delivery of affordable and non-market housing.

2. Identify opportunities to use District owned lands to leverage affordable and non-market housing projects.

3. Consider opportunities to pre-zone select District owned lands that have been identified for affordable housing projects.

Action Plan: 1. Identify potential rental and affordable housing opportunities with

BC Housing, MV Housing Corporation, other community partners and non-profit agencies.

2. Issue an expression of interest to gauge housing providers’ needs

and interest in purchasing and/or operating affordable housing units.

3. Identify priority District owned lands that may be suitable for

affordable housing projects, and/or provide funds through sale towards and Affordable Housing Opportunities Fund.

1. asd

6 Partnering with other agencies will be essential to achieving affordable housing objectives for low and low to moderate income households in the District. Furthermore, the various operational models and mandates of these agencies will influence the way in which the District’s is able to leverage funding and find suitable partners to operate various affordable housing projects (see summary of potential partners). The District is also interested in having identified projects at the ready to take advantage of Federal and Provincial funding, where available.

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Potential affordable housing partners

(i) Federal Government Early indications based on “Real Change: Affordable Housing for Canadians” suggests that the newly elected Federal government will be taking steps to support affordable and rental housing in the following ways:

investing in social infrastructure, including affordable housing and seniors facilities (helping to build more housing units, refurbish existing ones, renew current co-operative agreements, and provide operational funding support for municipalities);

increasing the new residential rental property rebate on the GST to 100 percent, eliminating all GST on new capital investments in affordable rental housing; and

directing the CMHC and the new Canada Infrastructure Bank to provide financing to support construction by the private sector, social enterprises, co-ops, and the not-for-profit sector of new, affordable rental housing for middle and low-income Canadians.

(ii) Provincial Government The BC government has pledged to allocate $355-million over the next five years to construct and renovate more than 2,000 units of affordable housing. Details for this allocation are pending. BC Housing works in partnership with other levels of government, community and private partners to provide housing for those in greatest need. BC Housing programs provide rental assistance, facilitate development of new affordable housing for low income families, and emergency and subsidized housing for low income families and the disabled. Through the Provincial Homelessness Initiative, BC Housing also facilitates the development of housing with integrated support services to help vulnerable families and individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. As a CMHC recognized lending agency, BC Housing can provide construction financing, but will also buy units for mortgaging by another agency. (iii) MV Housing Corporation The Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation derives 88% of its funding from tenant rents, laundry and parking, and the remainder from BC Housing subsidy and CMHC mortgage interest subsidy. The Corporation currently owns 49 sites around the region with 3,500 units of which 33% are subsidized based on a mixed income model of market and subsidized units. The ratio of market units depends on the required level of subsidy needed for below market rental units. (iv) Developers The development community has a key role to play in supporting municipal objectives for rental and affordable housing through land development, community amenity contributions, addressing needs of tenants, and in creating innovative ideas to advance affordable housing. (v) Non-profit agencies There are a number of non-profit agencies in the District who may be interested in administering/operating the affordable rental units, however many may lack the available funds to buy or mortgage affordable rental housing units, or to pay for necessary maintenance and repairs. One potential way to gauge eligible agencies and demand for affordable housing may be to issue an expression of interest for the administration and management of affordable housing.

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Summary of action plan and implementation items

Goal Action Plan Item Estimated Completion

1. Expand the supply and diversity of housing

1. Monitor the District’s housing inventory over time, and use this information to adjust housing form and affordability demand estimates to better respond to changing community needs.

2. Continue to apply the Strata Rental Protection and Accessible Design Policy for Multi-Family Residential Apartments policies.

2. Prioritize retention of affordable housing outside centres

1. Update the Standard of Maintenance Bylaw to provide additional clarity on maintenance best practices.

2. Work with community partners and other agencies to develop solutions to retain non-profit, social and co-operative housing potentially impacted by expiring operating agreements.

3. Enable replacement of existing affordable housing

1. Continue to monitor the number, size and affordability of existing and new affordable units by area, on an annual basis and compare to projected demand estimates.

2. Provide guidance to developers on unit sizes, mix and affordability in response to community profiles and community need.

4. Minimize impacts to existing tenants

1. Develop a Tenant Assistance Policy, to be applied at rezoning, to provide assistance for tenants where existing rental buildings are to be redeveloped.

5. Expand supply of new affordable rental and affordable housing

1. Identify potential sites for new rental and affordable housing. 2. Develop an Affordable Housing Opportunities Fund with appropriate policy to guide its use.

3. Explore opportunities for density bonus zoning and height adjustment for the delivery of affordable housing.

4. Explore opportunities for additional parking reductions for affordable rental apartments located in frequent transit development areas.

6. Partner with other agencies to deliver affordable housing

1. Identify potential rental and affordable housing opportunities with BC Housing, MV Housing Corporation, other community partners and non-profit agencies.

2. Issue an expression of interest to gauge housing providers’ needs and interest in purchasing and/or operating affordable housing units.

3. Identify priority District owned lands that may be suitable for affordable housing projects, and/or provide funds through sale towards and Affordable Housing Opportunities Fund.