Vancouver, where an ‘affordable’ 3-bedroom unit rents for $3,333, if you ask the city

The City of Vancouver has embarked on a 10-year mission to create more affordable homes for its taxpayers to live in.

However, city hall may find it tough to argue that a new development, planned for the Olympic Village area, will do anything to reach that goal.

Coverage of Vancouver housing affordability on Globalnews.ca:

1:44 City of Vancouver presents 10-year housing strategy

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• The growing lack of affordable housing in Metro Vancouver has forced more people to turn living in RVs.
• Experts believe Metro Vancouver housing market is about to bounce back
• New Greater Vancouver housing report released
• Will middle class be squeezed out of Metro Vancouver housing market?

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The development, a 10-storey residential building with 104 market rental housing units, is being planned for 1715 Cook Street.

The proposal is contained in a rezoning application filed by Chris Dikeakos Architects on behalf of Cressey Wilkinson Holdings Ltd.

READ MORE: Vancouver plan to build 72,000 new homes — and maybe restrict foreign owners — approved

City staff have recommended that the site be rezoned, with conditions.

One of those conditions is that the proponent enter a housing agreement, in which all of the units be secured as “for-profit rental housing.”

But what’s affordable, according to this application? A three-bedroom must rent for no more than an average starting rate of $3,333 per month, and a two-bedroom for no more than $2,539.

These figures are “subject to adjustment.” But you’d have to make a fair bit of money in Vancouver to call them affordable.

What’s affordable?

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) considers shelter affordable if it takes up less than 30 per cent of pre-tax household income.

At $3,333 per month, a household would need to bring in about $133,320 per year in order for that rent to be considered “affordable.”

That income that would put you in approximately the top four per cent of earners in Metro Vancouver, according to the most recent Census.

As for the two-bedroom units, a household would need to make about $101,560 per year for them to be affordable.

This income would qualify you for approximately the top 10 per cent of earners.

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“What the development is proposing is basically small units at very expensive rates that aren’t going to be affordable to the average renter in Vancouver,” said municipal lawyer Nathalie Baker.

“If you look at even a two-bedroom for $2,500 a month… that’s going to be $30,000 a year in rent.”

READ MORE: In Metro Vancouver, 43 per cent of renters are living in homes they can’t afford: Census

The city noted in a staff report that renting at this development would still cost less than buying on Vancouver’s west side.

There, the monthly cost of owning a median-priced three-bedroom unit would be $8,092, while for a two-bedroom home, it would be $4,494.

But with market rentals still needing incomes higher than many Vancouverites enjoy (the median total household income was $72,662 according to the most recent Census), Baker still feels there’s room for improvement in the city’s policies — especially as developers enjoy incentives for building rentals.

At the building on Cook Street, the developer won a waiver of a $2.1-million levy.

“The policy could certainly be tweaked to encourage more livable units at more affordable rates,” Baker said.