Consultants’ proposal sees city donating at least $50 million in land for housing
Frances Bula
Sun
VANCOUVER – Vancouver can solve its homelessness problem only by presenting governments with a new model that will get them interested in providing money, say the two men who have come up with some radical new mechanisms to finance housing for the mentally ill and drug-addicted.
That plan, developed by former deputy premier Ken Dobell, and Don Fairbairn, former chief financial officer of the Canada Line project, would see the city:
– Establishing a Vancouver Homelessness Foundation, to which it would give at least $50 million in land at a dozen sites scattered throughout Vancouver.
– Creating a Vancouver Homelessness Limited Partnership, with a goal of getting $60 million in investments from private individuals, companies and foundations as the down payment to build 1,500 units of housing on the foundation land. Those investors would get substantial tax credits, provided some federal laws and rules were changed.
– Leasing and upgrading 500 residential hotel rooms for 10 years at a cost of $10,000 per room.
– Allowing models of housing with smaller room sizes or bedrooms grouped around common kitchens as a way of building housing for less money.
– Giving developers floor-space bonuses for building housing units for the homeless.
– Dropping its requirement that megaproject developers set aside 20 per cent of their land for social housing and allow them to make a cash payment instead.
Dobell and Fairbairn, who were given a $300,000 contract from the city last fall to come up with new proposals to tackle homelessness, acknowledged that the limited-partnership plan would not reduce the amount of money that governments would have to provide for housing.
Their plan still envisions the provincial government putting in new money, to the tune of $48 million a year in supports and subsidies, by the time all 1,500 units are built.
But Dobell and Fairbairn both stressed that the government is more likely to provide that money if it sees it going into a different kind of structure.
“The province needs to make this investment, but what makes it easier for them is if they see community engagement and people with money at risk. Then you have a story that encourages the politicians.”
The foundation and limited-partnership organizations will create a sense of community buy-in, as local investors put their own money into housing, Dobell and Fairbairn said. They added that those investors and the limited-partnership board will be able to put pressure on the provincial government to contribute in the way that city politicians can’t any more, because the province is so tired of hearing their repeated demands.
And the limited-partnership board, which would have people from the business community on it, will encourage more effective operations of non-profit housing, while the foundation could fund innovative pilots and support programs for the groups and people who work with the homeless.
So far, the complex plan is being received with caution by some and with open opposition by others.
“Why fund housing through this complicated formula?” said opposition Coun. Raymond Louie of Vision Vancouver. He said the whole thing seems to boil down to an extremely complex borrowing scheme that is ultimately paid for by taxpayers anyway in the tax credits given to investors.
“Why go through this when we could just get the provincial and federal governments to come to the table with money?”
The city’s housing centre director, Cameron Gray, has warned in his report to council that there are significant disadvantages to the city giving its land away.
And that has even the ruling Non-Partisan Association pausing.
NPA Coun. Kim Capri said “that’s a huge policy shift.”
Capri, who said she and others haven’t had a chance to really absorb all the implications yet, said there are some interesting and exciting pieces to the recommendations.
“But it does call for a strong departure from things we’ve held sacred, like giving away our land.”
Capri said she also wants reassurances that the recommendations don’t just mean Vancouver has to do everything by itself to solve homelessness, while other municipalities in the regional district do nothing.
“I need to hear from other communities in that they are willing to embrace this model.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
