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Affordable housing in Victoria


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#3141 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 12:31 PM

Right. Although it’s unclear to me if a 35-day rental is even legal in BC. ie. a tenant entering into one could claim protection under RTB rules for standard long-term tenants..

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 December 2022 - 12:33 PM.


#3142 sebberry

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 12:50 PM

Strata property act changes will not work

 

 

I have just received notice our strata council is holding a special general meeting to vote on a proposed change to have our building designated “55+.”

 

If approved, this would exempt our building from being forced to permit rentals under the proposed Strata Property Act changes. I suspect stratas throughout B.C. are planning similar meetings with the same objective.

 

It saddens me that we must vote on this age restriction just to maintain the “no rentals” bylaw our owners overwhelmingly approved as part of a recent bylaw review.

 

Our current community is multi-generational consisting of singles and couples. Of course, current residents under 55 will be permitted to stay should this change to our bylaws pass.

 

But it means that in the future only those 55 and over can purchase units in our building. Aside from changing our demographic, it also puts units such as ours — often in an older building and less expensive than newer structures — out of reach of younger singles and couples wanting to enter the housing market.

 

If the premier wants to make housing more accessible to more people, his proposed strata property act changes will likely have the opposite effect as more and more stratas revert to “55+” designations as their only recourse to maintain the bylaws that their owners have voted for.

 

https://www.timescol...fficers-6189149

 

 

Patty Pitts

Victoria

 

 

 

 

There's some unintended consequences.

 

 

If you have a well established community of owner-occupiers, why do you think there will be a sudden and widespread shift in ownership/occupancy?  Changes are likely to happen over many years.   Way to screw over the multi-generational singles and couples in your building by proposing a value-decimating 55+ restriction.


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#3143 Mike K.

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 01:01 PM

It depends. Sometimes it’s well established because the units can’t be rented. But once they can, there might be quite a bit of turnover.
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#3144 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 01:04 PM

Way to screw over the multi-generational singles and couples in your building by proposing a value-decimating 55+ restriction.



Some people are perhaps more than perfectly willing to sacrafice some value for the 55+ designation. Pay a premium if you will.
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#3145 Nparker

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 01:09 PM

Some people are perhaps more than perfectly willing to sacrifice some value for the 55+ designation. Pay a premium if you will.

As of my last birthday, I have no objections to this restriction.  :thumbsup:


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#3146 aastra

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 02:09 PM

 

If the premier wants to make housing more accessible to more people, his proposed strata property act changes will likely have the opposite effect...

 

A shocking and entirely unexpected outcome, surely.


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#3147 lanforod

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 02:22 PM

If you have a well established community of owner-occupiers, why do you think there will be a sudden and widespread shift in ownership/occupancy?  Changes are likely to happen over many years.   Way to screw over the multi-generational singles and couples in your building by proposing a value-decimating 55+ restriction.

 

You mean this hasn't yet been proposed in your building?  :rtfm:  :muching_out:



#3148 sebberry

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 02:42 PM

It depends. Sometimes it’s well established because the units can’t be rented. But once they can, there might be quite a bit of turnover.

 

Then maybe that's evidence people want flexibility?


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#3149 sebberry

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 02:43 PM

You mean this hasn't yet been proposed in your building?  :rtfm:  :muching_out:

 

Shhh!  I wouldn't put it past them... 


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#3150 lanforod

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 02:46 PM

By the way, this implies that rental restrictions and 55+ are coupled. Why is that so? Why wouldn't the NDP just uncouple that? Allow leaving 55+ restrictions in place, but prevent all rental restrictions? If a building is 55+, they must allow rentals to 55+ then...



#3151 Mike K.

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Posted 02 December 2022 - 04:37 PM

You’d think so.

Odd.

They also dropped the triplex blanket rezoning of SFD lots, I think.

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#3152 JimV

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Posted 11 December 2022 - 02:55 PM

By the way, this implies that rental restrictions and 55+ are coupled. Why is that so? Why wouldn't the NDP just uncouple that? Allow leaving 55+ restrictions in place, but prevent all rental restrictions? If a building is 55+, they must allow rentals to 55+ then...

I’m not sure that they are coupled.  I heard a real estate lawyer on CFAX the other day and I thought he said there was no connection.  Apparently there are a lot of unclear provisions in the law however.

 

Meanwhile,  the TC reports that BC Housing has applied for a 20 story rental building at that prestige address - 900 block of Pandora.  About 50 of the units will be “supportive housing”, whatever that is.  What could possibly go wrong.


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#3153 Nparker

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Posted 11 December 2022 - 03:11 PM

...the TC reports that BC Housing has applied for a 20 story rental building at that prestige address - 900 block of Pandora.  About 50 of the units will be “supportive housing”, whatever that is.  What could possibly go wrong.

Relevant thread here: https://vibrantvicto...ace-20-storeys/



#3154 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 13 December 2022 - 06:07 AM

Around half of BC’s municipalities have passed bylaws to implement the BC Energy Step Code, requiring various levels of energy efficiency before they’re required province-wide, including nine on the South Island.

 

The step code was launched in 2017 with the goal of reaching net zero emissions buildings by 2032. It isn’t a detailed, prescriptive plan, but rather a flexible performance-based target that municipalities can implement on their own schedule. 

 

Each “step” reaches a higher level of energy efficiency on the way to zero, using the 2017 BC building code as a baseline. The plan doesn’t say: start with triple-pane windows, then install heat pumps, then start building air-tight building envelopes. It just says: be 20% better, and then 50% better, and then reach net zero. 

 

Builders and municipalities get to decide how to be better, and when. Or, they can go at the provincial pace.

 

Highlands, for example, just jumped all the way to a net-zero requirement for detached homes starting in January, with the major caveat that buildings with a low-carbon energy system—such as a heat pump—only have to be 20% more energy efficient than the current building code. 

 

Colwood’s new council is not far behind; as of next summer all single-family homes (including duplexes and townhomes) and multi-family buildings will have to be net zero, or, if they use a low carbon energy system, they only have to meet step three (a 20% improvement). Commercial buildings have to be 50% more efficient, but they’re allowed to drop to 20% and 40% if they use a low carbon energy system.

 

These bylaws are intended to incentivize builders to use low-carbon energy systems, which the municipalities see as an impactful way to immediately reduce carbon emissions. 

 

The province is expected to update its building code to match a 20% improvement in energy efficiency for 2023, equivalent to step three. By 2027, a 40% improvement will be required, and by 2032 net zero will be mandated for all buildings.

 

Sooke and View Royal have both passed step code bylaws that are slightly ahead of the provincial schedule, but offer no incentives or penalties for certain types of energy systems. 

 

The hardest part of the new step code, according to a Sooke building department staffer, has been finding energy advisors. That’s a new certification created for the step code; the advisors are qualified to determine which step a building plan will fall into.

 

 

 

https://www.thewests...nergy-efficient


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 December 2022 - 06:08 AM.


#3155 Nparker

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Posted 13 December 2022 - 07:04 AM

#whocaresaboutaffordability
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#3156 dasmo

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Posted 13 December 2022 - 10:02 AM

My house is overbuilt. It cost too much to build. Engineering costs were probably twice what was budgeted. It wouldn't meet net zero standards. To do so would have require cutting down all the trees on the lot.... 

Even at the most simple level it would have meant triple pane windows which use more glass, weigh more so cost more in shipping and energy to make them and install.  

 

What is the holistic calculation here? 

 

It is called embodied energy. Using more materials to save on energy can cost more in the end. sand is also used for making glass.... 

https://www.business...concrete-2018-6



#3157 Nparker

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Posted 13 December 2022 - 10:04 AM

...Using more materials to save on energy can cost more in the end...

Stop bringing logic into the equation.


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#3158 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 16 December 2022 - 07:19 AM

The Capital Region Housing Corporation (CRHC) has approved a budget that aims to bring more than 700 units of affordable housing to the region during the next five years.

The CRHC budget for 2023 includes funding to continue to plan and develop affordable housing projects in the region.

The Capital Projects’ Major Capital Plan includes eight projects that are identified as underway or in planning, totaling just over $60 million for 2023 towards a funding envelope of $293 million over the life of the plan.

 

https://www.vicnews....capital-region/



#3159 Mike K.

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Posted 16 December 2022 - 07:25 AM

Nearly $420,000 per unit.

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#3160 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 30 December 2022 - 03:01 AM

As of New Year's Day, some foreign buyers will be banned from purchasing residential property in Canada in a move the federal government says is aimed at making housing more affordable.

But many real estate and housing policy experts are unconvinced that the two-year ban will have much impact on house prices — given non-resident buyers make up such a small share of the real estate market, and many will still be exempt.

"I think this is very much a political policy, more than an economic policy," says Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist at the British Columbia Real Estate Association.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...perts-1.6692706

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2022 - 03:01 AM.


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