Vancouver mayor pitches densification plan for single family lots

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart is pitching a plan to city council for more housing for the city's middle class that would increase density in neighbourhoods traditionally known for single family homes.

If approved, the plan — dubbed Making HOME (Home Options for Middle-income Earners) — would allow up to six ground-oriented units on a single lot where only detached housing is currently allowed.

"It's really a win-win for everybody. [The homeowner] gets to stay in the neighbourhood they love and the city also benefits," said Stewart to host Gloria Macarenko on CBC's On The Coast. 

Stewart gave the example of an older detached house or single family home with the purchase price of $2 million. If that house were taken down and replaced with six units, he says each home — around 800 to 1,000 square feet — would roughly be the same price of a condo, around $600,000 to $800,000. 

"That's what I mean by affordable ... for the middle class. This isn't going to be for folks making a minimum wage or starting to get their feet under them with a career. But it's something that folks can definitely aspire to and if it works, we can always expand the program," he said. 

Stewart says the program would be open to homeowners across the city.

"I think over 60 per cent of our city is now still reserved for single attached homes or duplexes. So this would really [be] in every neighbourhood across the city outside of the downtown, you'd have an opportunity for homeowners to use this program."

Speculation concerns

Stewart says that the program has "anti-speculation measures built right in."

When asked to elaborate, he said it was the same as the development cost expectations policy the city has used all along the Broadway line. 

The plan is to start with 2,000 lots, but Stewart stresses there's no city-directed impetus to start redeveloping. 

"What's so good about this one is that it's the choice of the local homeowner. We put this policy in place … but homeowners do not have to take it up," he said. 

"It's for current property owners to have increased choice over their properties or for small builders to provide more choice to residents."

Stewart says this proposed plan would work in conjunction with the other proposals for new homes in the city, like the plan to triple the number of homes in False Creek South, and housing for approximately 15,000 to 18,000 people on the Jericho Lands on the city's West Side.

"[Vancouver] is an exciting global city and there's going to be increasing demands for people who want to move here to grow our economy, grow our cultural assets and we need more housing to accommodate them," he said.

Home sales across the Vancouver area remained well above the 10-year average in September, with the benchmark price for a detached home at over $1.8 million.