Mayor makes last-minute proposal for renter protections in Vancouver's 30-year plan
The long-awaited Vancouver Plan is set to go before council on Wednesday after almost four years of work – and Mayor Kennedy Stewart is adding a last-minute amendment.
On Tuesday, Stewart held a news conference to announce he wants to include renter protections in the plan, the same that were built into the Broadway Plan.
“Housing is one of the most personal things in our lives, the places we live are usually the places we keep most of our valuable possessions,” Stewart said at the beginning of the news conference. “Today I’m announcing my plan to extend these renter protections city-wide through the Vancouver Plan.”
Stewart’s plan would focus on renters displaced by redevelopment. Tenants would have the first right of refusal to return to the newly developed property at the same, or lower rent, and builders would also front relocation costs – an idea, the mayor admitted, that made some builders nervous.
“I did meet with builders yesterday and we brought up what happened in the Broadway Plan, you could see there’s a lot of chewing on the bottom of the lip,” he said, adding the protections will make building costs more expensive and could force towers to go higher.
“(The builders) show us their proformas and say, ‘We’ll need this much more density if we’re going to make this happen,’ and that’s something we’ll have to consider,” Stewart said.
At least three councilors CTV News reached out to said they were unaware the mayor was making the announcement Tuesday.
The concept of looking forward to Vancouver 2050 was first passed by council back in November 2018, just after Kennedy Stewart had been elected as mayor. Since then it’s gone through several stages of planning and public feedback, some of which was slowed by the pandemic.
Last week, staff released new concept sketches to show what the proposed areas of the city would look like.
Karis Hiebert is manager of the Vancouver Plan project, and said staff hadn’t looked at details such as renter protections yet.
“The Vancouver Plan is a higher level plan so we haven’t gotten into the specifics, but we can definitely look into (that) for the implementation phase,” Hiebert said, adding that even if the plan is passed by council it won’t be implemented for some time.
“The scope of work that we have in the report estimates that we have between two, two-and-a-half years before we would have a land use development plan,” she said.
The plan goes before council on Wednesday and as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, 53 speakers were signed up.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NDP motion regarding Palestinian statehood passes after major Liberal alterations
A motion from the federal New Democrats initially calling on Canada to recognize the 'State of Palestine' passed amid widespread acrimony on Monday, after the Liberals drastically altered its wording to see the government simply work towards that aim as part of a two-state solution.
'He didn't want to die': Family of Calgary man killed in standoff speaks out
Family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week are speaking out, sharing details of the tense and heart-wrenching experience.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder
An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
5 charged in Calgary kidnappings that targeted women
Calgary police have charged five men in a pair of kidnappings last year that targeted innocent victims.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Canadian commander of volunteer fighter group dies in Ukraine
A Canadian-born commander of the so-called Norman Brigade, a volunteer fighting group in Ukraine, has died.