Vancouver calls for more rental protections in Broadway Plan

Vancouver city councillors voted to further densify the city’s Broadway corridor on Thursday night, approving the motion to fall in line with the province’s new density requirements near transit hubs.

The motion affects some areas which already fall under the Broadway Plan, making way for high-rise rental apartments.

However, councillors also voted to have staff look into added tenant protections, as most agreed that further safety nets for current renters in the area might be called for.

Coun. Adriane Carr pointed out that as it stands now, renters who are displaced and are getting subsidized rents as they wait to move into the new building may be out of luck if the developer suddenly runs out of money.

She likes what the City of Burnaby has required of developers, saying that city makes sure there is “a bond posted by a developer and that bond is held by the city.”

“If the developer abandons the project, the city can use that bond to top up [the tenants’] rent,” Carr added.

Carr says council wants consistent reporting about tenants who may not be eligible for tenant relocation benefits.

“To make sure there are minimal numbers of tenants who are not eligible and that could be because they moved in later than a particular time period, they’ve been a tenant that just came in,” she explained.

Right now, developers must find appropriate housing for displaced tenants, and pay for the difference in rents that tenants would be paying in their original apartments until they are housed in the new building.

Council also voted in favour of getting regular reports about what kinds of housing displaced residents are placed into as they wait for the construction of their new units.

Carr says adding new protections for displaced tenants would ensure they will be able to access support in the interim.

“If for example, an applicant that is developing a project all of a sudden bails and doesn’t develop it and tenants have already moved out. Who’s going to support them?” she asked.

The Broadway Plan was first adopted in June 2022, with the goal of getting more rental towers built along the new Broadway Subway.

The aim was to see 30,000 housing units built over the course of 30 years.