Streamlining Rental: Making it easier to build secure rental housing in more neighbourhoods

On October 5^th, Vancouver City Council voted to refer the Streamlining Rental Around Local Shopping Areas proposal to Public Hearing.

The public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at 6 pm, and will be held via electronic means, with in-person attendance at City Hall also available. Registration to speak at the Public Hearing will begin at 8:30 am on October 22, 2021.

For more information on registering to speak, or on how to send your comments to Mayor and Council in advance of the Public Hearing, please visit vancouver.ca/publichearings. Please note that due to COVID-19, Public Health Orders continue to limit the number of members of the public that can attend Public Hearings in person; therefore those wishing to participate are strongly encouraged to attend remotely.

Referral Report Now Live

The referral report Streamlining Rental around Local Shopping Areas - Amendments to the C-2, C-2B, C-2C, and C-2C1 Zones and Creation of New Rental Zones for Use in Future Rezoning Applications in Surrounding Low Density Areas Under the Secured Rental Policy is now posted on the City's website. Council will consider the report for referral on Tuesday, October 5^th.

The report contains details of proposed changes that would help create more complete neighbourhoods that include a range of “missing middle” secure market and below-market rental housing, strengthen and grow local shopping streets and reduce carbon pollution by allowing more people to live close to shopping, transit and daily needs. As quick start actions of the Vancouver Plan, the proposed changes would make it faster and easier to build new secured rental housing in these areas, and could help deliver over 4,000 new rental units over the next 10 years.

Should Council refer the recommendations to a Public Hearing, a date is expected to be scheduled in early November. Please stay tuned for details and more information on how you can submit your comments or speak to Council directly at the Public Hearing.

A full engagement summary can be found in Appendix K of the report, including survey results and key themes from what we have heard from the public.

Key Changes Made in Response to Public Engagement

Several key changes to the proposed actions to streamline rental housing, as well as to related City policies, have been made in response to public feedback received during the engagement that has been undertaken over the last three years, including:

Simplifying and clarifying the locational criteria and map

• Focusing eligibility on areas near existing shopping streets and public transit routes
• Applying eligibility to the entire first block adjacent to an arterial, as opposed to a distance-based requirement

Mitigating impact on existing renters and rental housing

• Extending the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan to C-2 Zones to protect more than 3,000 rental units and ensure there is no net loss of rental in these areas.
• Removing RT-5, RT-7, RT-8 and RT-10 zones from eligibility for rezoning to protect areas with higher proportions of existing rental housing and character homes in Kitsilano and Kensington-Cedar Cottage.

Affordability of new rental housing

• Enabling more diverse “missing middle” secured rental housing options in neighbourhoods across Vancouver that are affordable to a wide range of renter households, including those that cannot afford homeownership.
• Enabling more new permanently secured below-market rental units by requiring they be included in all six-storey buildings in RS and RT areas under the SRP.

Creating more complete neighbourhoods and supporting local businesses

• Allowing new mixed-use buildings in and near existing shopping nodes on sites that do no have existing businesses, which may reduce development pressure on sites with existing businesses.
• Working on a Commercial Tenant Assistance Program through the Employment Lands and Economy Review.
• Allowing a modest height increase to improve ground floor commercial spaces in new buildings.

Strengthening the public realm in and around local shopping areas

• Enable wider sidewalks by requiring greater building setbacks.
• Minimizing shadows on shopping streets through flexible setback requirements.

Climate Emergency and Green Buildings

• Requiring all projects under the SRP to be near-zero emissions buildings, further aligning with Council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan

Supplementary Materials – Architectural Testing

In 2020, the City contracted independent architectural firms to perform design analysis on the proposed amendments to the C-2 zones and new standard district schedules for use in future rezonings in low density (RS/RT) areas. Memos summarizing the results of this work that supplement the Council report can be found here.

Housing Affordability

A new board has been posted to detail and compare the housing prices and incomes needed to afford them in social housing, below-market rental, market rental and ownership housing. There is a significant diversity among renter households and their housing needs. With ownership out of reach for most residents, rental housing provides a range of secure homes to serve a variety of households and incomes, while improving housing affordability over time.

Housing Affordability Rental housing vs. ownership affordability board

Council Direction

On Wednesday July 21, Council voted to direct staff to prepare the Streamlining Rental by-law amendments for consideration of referral to public hearing in Q4 of 2021. The public hearing will provide a final opportunity for members of the public to speak to Council or submit comments on the proposed changes. If approved at public hearing, the changes would come into effect in late fall and applications for new rental projects could then be submitted.

To see the Streamlining Rental update to Council, refer to Appendix B of the Vancouver Quick Starts Action Council Report.

Engagement to Date and Shadow Studies

New boards have been posted detailing the update on the engagement to date including the themes from the virtual information sessions held in June, and the shadow studies for both RS/RT and C-2 areas. Example sites and building options have been selected to show the most typical types of rental buildings expected to be built, and those that would generally create the greatest shadow impacts.

July 2021 - Engagement to Date, Shadow Studies A brief engagement update and shadow studies for C-2 and RS/RT areas.

Survey Deadline Extension

The survey has been extended to close on July 30, 2021 for any last minute comments on the proposed changes.

Please visit Shapeyourcity.ca/Rental-rz to submit your responses and see the new materials.

May 2021

Details on Streamlining Rental, including background, findings from previous engagement and specifics on how the proposal has been refined since 2020, are available through the links below. Start from the top, or click on the section you are interested in to skip ahead. Share your comments and feedback through our comment form.

	Background & context Where this work started and where we've been
	Why is secure rental housing important? Housing affordability, climate emergency response and Complete Connected Neighbourhoods
	What we've heard so far Engagement to date on the Secured Rental Policy and proposed actions
	Summary of proposed actions What changes are proposed and how we’ve refined them in response to what we’ve heard
	C-2 zoning changes Leveling the playing field for rental housing and strengthening commercial streets
	Rezoning policy updates for low density areas Making it easier and faster to build market and below market rental housing near shopping, transit, and other daily needs
	Next steps Process and Timeline

April 2021

Previous report back on C-2 changes and Council direction

In June 2020, staff brought a report to Council on proposed amendments to the C-2 commercial zoning districts (including C-2, C-2B, C-2C and C-2C1) to enable secured rental housing to be developed without rezoning. Following the July 2020 public hearing, Council referred the proposed changes back to staff until Council has considered the forthcoming report regarding amendments to the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan to include the C-2 zones, and following further public consultation through the Vancouver Plan in the fall of 2020, including at the neighbourhood level.

Read more information on Council’s decision on the C-2 changes in July 2020 in the public hearing minutes.

Report back on Council direction regarding extension of the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan to C-2 zones

In February 2021, staff brought a report to Council with proposed amendments to the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan (RHS ODP) to further protect existing rental stock in Vancouver by extending the RHS ODP to areas zoned C-2, C-2B, C-2C and C-2C1. Council approved the proposed changes following completion of the public hearing in April 2021.

Read more information on Council’s decision on the RHS ODP in the public hearing minutes.

October 2020

In October 2020 Council approved 10 provisional goals for the Vancouver Plan, including two goals that are closely linked to key objectives of the Secured Rental Policy:

• Develop an Affordable City with Diverse and Secure Housing for every resident that they can afford with 30% or less of their household income
• Achieve Complete, Connected and Culturally Vibrant Neighbourhoods
• Become a Sustainable, Carbon Neutral City

For more information on work underway as part of these provisional goals and opportunities to get involved, visit:

• Planning Vancouver Together: Housing
• Planning Vancouver Together: Complete, Connected Neighbourhoods
• Planning Vancouver Together: Vancouver Plan

As part of subsequent work on the Vancouver Plan, including continued public engagement on the provisional goals and community recovery and quick-start actions, Council directed staff to conduct additional city-wide and neighbourhood engagement on opportunities to increase rental housing in C-2 zones and low density transition areas through the Secured Rental Policy, as well as ways to increase social housing.

Read more about the provisional goals in the Council report and on Council’s direction in the meeting minutes