Newsletter December 10, 2022: The Real Housing Crisis
Will Oak Bay be a District of more and more high-priced housing, basement suites and infill or a Distinct of liveable, sustainable neighbourhoods?
The more desirable the community the more people want to live there, and consequently the more expensive land, housing and rents are.
To put it bluntly, anyone who thinks providing more expensive housing and more expensive rental accommodation is going to solve the housing crisis is, at best, delusional.
So many of our elected officials have failed to recognize that there isn’t an expensive housing crisis. Their own union, the BC Union of Municipalities (BCUM), has made this very clear. They have confirmed that in BC, the current supply has kept up with demand. So, what's the problem? The real problem is that there is an affordable housing crisis and the way to solve the root causes of that crisis is vastly different from what the Provincial Government and Oak Bay Council are planning.
Oak Bay has the highest land, housing and rental costs in the Capital Regional District (CRD). Adding high-rent basement suites and infill will only drive-up housing prices not reduce them. This additional accommodation makes the property more marketable and thus the market price higher. Added to this if Oak Bay Councils have not been able to control illegal suites and infill to date so what are their chances of controlling a much greater number.
Ignoring a decade and a half of resident protests about invasive houses overbuilding lots, the infill Consultant has suggested allowing even more lot coverage to accommodate garden and garage suites and possibly laneway houses on the District’s smaller lots.
Council Advisory Design Panel (ADP) meeting recently considered a four-lot subdivision on Hampshire Road near Willows School. The minutes state that:
“Panel members expressed frustration that, although supportive of the application, they would have welcomed an application with greater density and a higher standard of sustainability and wished this was a District requirement.” The ADP passed a motion to that effect.
The more land is subdivided and more density is allowed the more expensive land becomes.
There is no question that when lots are subdivided, this inherently creates a lot of wealth for the owner, developer and realtor. Heritage Revitalization Agreements have been used to provide some community benefit in the past: however, this development application provides no such benefit. Although the existing home was on the Heritage Register it has been demolished.
The 4 new proposed homes will be marketed close to or exceeding a double- digit, multi million-dollar price range. Most or all of the new property taxation will be applied to the required municipal services and to mitigate the added stress on the infrastructure.
The benefit to the community has not yet been identified.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
We are at a loss to explain why BC’s new premier has announced his plans to impose legislation that would require municipalities to build more expensive, housing, but he has not announced any plans to provide the millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades this will require. He has also not announced a robust social housing program or legislation to stop land, housing and rental speculation, foreign or otherwise - a root cause of the affordable housing crisis.
The province’s current social housing program consists of a series of token affordable housing developments on main arteries, and basement, garden and laneway accommodation, that is mostly second rate.
The other puzzling Information is the Province’s April 4, 2022: “Preventing and reducing homelessness: An integrated data project” presents as, “an innovative data project to better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C.
The Project phases are:
Across the 4 proposed phases of the integrated data project, the team will:
Surely an expensive provincial study is not needed to understand that home prices are out of the range of millions of Canadians. Rents are at extortionate levels and a single welfare recipient’s housing allowance is not enough to even rent a non-subsidized single-occupant room. It’s no secret, and the media have clearly explained this, that many BC municipalities have been a dumping ground for Canada’s homeless.
Also, is yet another study needed to understand homelessness in BC is at epic proportions. A visit to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will provide that information (see Appendix #1). What is needed for starters is the promised action to stop housing speculation, freeing up some non-market land and as our BC homeless are “refugees” from all over Canada, Federal government intervention is necessary.
On the home front we are also at loss to understand how the Advisory Design Panel (ADP) thinks more density than 4 big 2,482-2,729 sq. ft. houses on 2 singe-family lots and the loss of 36 mature trees, 24 of them protected, is going to provide “a higher s standard of sustainability”. This is not explained in the ADP meeting minutes.
It also seems to us that as Oak Bay’s Parks Service input on this proposed project indicates it “conforms to Tree Protection Bylaw, 2020”, then the new Bylaw is not only failing to protect our urban forest but, the time and expense to draft, approve and implement this Bylaw was wasted.
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“Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
Oak Bay Watch is a volunteer community association and its members have a variety of professional backgrounds in both the public and private sector.
*******Please help us continue to provide you with information about Community concerns and Council decisions and actions. Oak Bay Watch members also help community groups with their specific development concerns. Donate to Oak Bay Watch - even $5 or $10 dollars provides expenses for door- to- door handouts and helps us maintain our website. Oak Bay Watch is committed to ensuring the Community gets the full range of information on budget, governance and all key development issues – a well-informed opinion cannot be made without this.
(Please use Donate Button at bottom of oakbaywatch.com Home Page)
Keep informed and sign up for our newsletter – bottom of Newsletter Menu Item.
Appendix #1
These homeless encampments occupy block after block, on East Hastings, east toward Burnaby. Many businesses have closed and are boarded up due to theft and harassment.
Will Oak Bay be a District of more and more high-priced housing, basement suites and infill or a Distinct of liveable, sustainable neighbourhoods?
The more desirable the community the more people want to live there, and consequently the more expensive land, housing and rents are.
To put it bluntly, anyone who thinks providing more expensive housing and more expensive rental accommodation is going to solve the housing crisis is, at best, delusional.
So many of our elected officials have failed to recognize that there isn’t an expensive housing crisis. Their own union, the BC Union of Municipalities (BCUM), has made this very clear. They have confirmed that in BC, the current supply has kept up with demand. So, what's the problem? The real problem is that there is an affordable housing crisis and the way to solve the root causes of that crisis is vastly different from what the Provincial Government and Oak Bay Council are planning.
Oak Bay has the highest land, housing and rental costs in the Capital Regional District (CRD). Adding high-rent basement suites and infill will only drive-up housing prices not reduce them. This additional accommodation makes the property more marketable and thus the market price higher. Added to this if Oak Bay Councils have not been able to control illegal suites and infill to date so what are their chances of controlling a much greater number.
Ignoring a decade and a half of resident protests about invasive houses overbuilding lots, the infill Consultant has suggested allowing even more lot coverage to accommodate garden and garage suites and possibly laneway houses on the District’s smaller lots.
Council Advisory Design Panel (ADP) meeting recently considered a four-lot subdivision on Hampshire Road near Willows School. The minutes state that:
“Panel members expressed frustration that, although supportive of the application, they would have welcomed an application with greater density and a higher standard of sustainability and wished this was a District requirement.” The ADP passed a motion to that effect.
The more land is subdivided and more density is allowed the more expensive land becomes.
There is no question that when lots are subdivided, this inherently creates a lot of wealth for the owner, developer and realtor. Heritage Revitalization Agreements have been used to provide some community benefit in the past: however, this development application provides no such benefit. Although the existing home was on the Heritage Register it has been demolished.
The 4 new proposed homes will be marketed close to or exceeding a double- digit, multi million-dollar price range. Most or all of the new property taxation will be applied to the required municipal services and to mitigate the added stress on the infrastructure.
The benefit to the community has not yet been identified.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
We are at a loss to explain why BC’s new premier has announced his plans to impose legislation that would require municipalities to build more expensive, housing, but he has not announced any plans to provide the millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades this will require. He has also not announced a robust social housing program or legislation to stop land, housing and rental speculation, foreign or otherwise - a root cause of the affordable housing crisis.
The province’s current social housing program consists of a series of token affordable housing developments on main arteries, and basement, garden and laneway accommodation, that is mostly second rate.
The other puzzling Information is the Province’s April 4, 2022: “Preventing and reducing homelessness: An integrated data project” presents as, “an innovative data project to better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C.
The Project phases are:
Across the 4 proposed phases of the integrated data project, the team will:
- Phase 1: Use integrated data to provide an estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness in B.C.; Homeless Cohort
- Phase 2: Examine how people use homelessness services
- Phase 3: Investigate how people move into and out of homelessness
- Phase 4: Predict demand and evaluate programs
Surely an expensive provincial study is not needed to understand that home prices are out of the range of millions of Canadians. Rents are at extortionate levels and a single welfare recipient’s housing allowance is not enough to even rent a non-subsidized single-occupant room. It’s no secret, and the media have clearly explained this, that many BC municipalities have been a dumping ground for Canada’s homeless.
Also, is yet another study needed to understand homelessness in BC is at epic proportions. A visit to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will provide that information (see Appendix #1). What is needed for starters is the promised action to stop housing speculation, freeing up some non-market land and as our BC homeless are “refugees” from all over Canada, Federal government intervention is necessary.
On the home front we are also at loss to understand how the Advisory Design Panel (ADP) thinks more density than 4 big 2,482-2,729 sq. ft. houses on 2 singe-family lots and the loss of 36 mature trees, 24 of them protected, is going to provide “a higher s standard of sustainability”. This is not explained in the ADP meeting minutes.
It also seems to us that as Oak Bay’s Parks Service input on this proposed project indicates it “conforms to Tree Protection Bylaw, 2020”, then the new Bylaw is not only failing to protect our urban forest but, the time and expense to draft, approve and implement this Bylaw was wasted.
----------------------------------------
“Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
Oak Bay Watch is a volunteer community association and its members have a variety of professional backgrounds in both the public and private sector.
*******Please help us continue to provide you with information about Community concerns and Council decisions and actions. Oak Bay Watch members also help community groups with their specific development concerns. Donate to Oak Bay Watch - even $5 or $10 dollars provides expenses for door- to- door handouts and helps us maintain our website. Oak Bay Watch is committed to ensuring the Community gets the full range of information on budget, governance and all key development issues – a well-informed opinion cannot be made without this.
(Please use Donate Button at bottom of oakbaywatch.com Home Page)
Keep informed and sign up for our newsletter – bottom of Newsletter Menu Item.
Appendix #1
These homeless encampments occupy block after block, on East Hastings, east toward Burnaby. Many businesses have closed and are boarded up due to theft and harassment.
Eastbound Hasting Street View East from Main Street