3524 replies to this topic

[aastra]

 

It’s not like we didn’t know that. We have a very high proportion of renters too.

 

For sure, anyone who knows Victoria knows the city has placed a heavy focus on lowrise apartment blocks for many decades. I should say, not all lowrise apartment blocks are small. Some of them are very long/large complexes. But there are plenty of buildings in the small to medium size range, or what I would call "neighbourhood-sized".

[Nparker]

Still, though, for the region to have such a low SFD ratio I’m blown away that this has been veiled from the debate  pre-determined decision

Fixed that for you.

[aastra]

 

...anyone who knows Victoria knows the city has placed a heavy focus on lowrise apartment blocks for many decades...

 

Just about everything in the 21st-century "housing crisis" narrative was already covered ad nauseam in the "housing crisis" coverage of the 1960s/1970s. And then covered all over again in the 1980s/1990s housing crisis coverage. And let the record show how the narrative has flip-flopped constantly re: the big question: are these apartments luxurious digs for the wealthy or are they utilitarian accommodation for the masses? (In reality, most of Victoria's lowrise apartment units are neither of the above)

 

*****

 

 

Daily Colonist/The Express
May 18, 1974

The rise, decline and fall of apartment development boom

In agonizing over current problems and speculating on future prospects for the apartment in Greater Victoria, it's easy to overlook the massive impact this type of development has already had on the area, and especially the city itself.

With the exception of the automobile, perhaps no other single factor in the post-war evolution of the city has had a greater effect on its physical appearance, its population, its total environment, its very substance.

No precise tally is available, but current estimates place the total number of apartments in the four core municipalities at nearly 25,000.

This unit total is broken up as follows: Victoria, 18,250; Saanich, 3,500; Oak Bay, 1,200; Esquimalt, 2,000.

Prior to 1952 there were only some 1,000 apartment units in the entire metropolitan area, the vast majority of them smaller buildings -- often larger, older homes that had been converted -- accommodating between six and 19 units.

In his Victoria apartment study, published in the Western Geographical Series, University of Victoria geographer Peter Murphy notes that the "dramatic" increase in apartment growth over the 20 years up to 1971 involved roughly a doubling in apartment numbers every four years.

Through this arithmetic progression, he says, almost 50 per cent of the 1971 apartment population appeared in the four years between 1968 and 1971.

During that 20-year period, apartment buildings grew steadily larger. Those under 20 units in size declined to 19 per cent of the total, says Murphy, while the proportion of medium-sized buildings (20 to 49 units) rose from 15 to 55 per cent.

The highrise and larger apartment buildings of 50-plus units didn't make their debut until the early 1960s, but within 10 years they accounted for 26 per cent of all new apartment buildings.

...the development concentrated around the city centre, major throughfares leading to it (notably the Fort-Cadboro Bay and Pandora-Oak Bay routes to the east and Esquimalt Road to the west) and areas of scenic or recreational value such as the periphery of Beacon Hill Park, Dallas Road and the Oak Bay waterfront.

In Saanich, the Cedar Hill Cross Road-Shelbourne area became a focus for apartment development and in Victoria, James Bay was singled out as the prime area "suitable" for such development -- and zoned accordingly.

What Mayor Pollen has since termed "the rape of James Bay" had begun; the extensive displacement of aging single-family homes with four-storey frame apartments and highrise towers.

Initially, the public view toward the trend seemed one of philosophical resignation, but as apartments continued to creep inexorably across the city's landscape there emerged feelings of doubt, concern and, eventually, open hostility.

What would high-density living cause in terms of traffic congestion, noise, fire risk, the right of the citizen to enjoy his quote of sunshine? Would apartment buildings form a continuous waterfront wall to block out the view of the sea and the Olympics? Would we end up like the West End of Vancouver?

 

*****

 

 

Daily Colonist
September 7, 1969

"There's No Place to Go in City"
Rent increases, apathy, shortage of housing hit pensioners, Indians, people with children

"Landlords are becoming extortionists, helped by the housing crisis, the tearing down of older houses..."

The bitter comment came Saturday from a 70-year-old pensioner who can either leave his housekeeping room or pay a $5 a month rent increase.

"Please don't use my name, or I shall get an eviction notice, and there's just no place to go in the city," he added.

The pensioner was just one more victim of a housing crisis which hit Victoria about three years ago, and is still awaiting a solution.

According to Victoria's assistant city manager... there's a need for about 1,200 housing units in Victoria, and today's bleak picture is unlikely to change at least during the next two years.

Emergency shelter for families at the old Protestant Orphanage -- now the Bishop Cridge Centre for the Family -- has been filled ever since it opened early this year.

Other families, unable to pay high rents or unacceptable to landlords because they have children or pets, are doubling up in substandard accommodation.

Meanwhile, rent for apartments, duplexes, houses and housekeeping rooms is being increased two or three times a year, while older houses are being torn down to make way for expensive apartment blocks.

"I don't quite know who they're going to put into the new apartment blocks," said Susan Talbot of the Community Action Group, who handles four or five emergency appeals for housing every week.

"The pensioners can't afford to go in, and people with children wouldn't be allowed, even if they could pay the rent."

The destruction of older houses that have been used as suites for families and housekeeping rooms for pensioners distresses both the elderly and those who work in housing.

"There just aren't enough houses now, and these people who are moved out to make way for apartments have no place to go," said Mrs. Talbot.

Mr. Hooson agreed.

"We moved 127 people out to build 184 units at Rose-Blanchard," he said. "That's not even going to make a dent in the 1,200 places we need here."

It is hoped that the first of the units in the urban renewal area will be ready before the end of the year.

Dorothy Livingston of the Indian Arts and Welfare Society said she knew of one family of eight which had moved four times in the search for decent housing after being moved out of the Rose-Blanchard area.

"So many places that are for rent are only temporary because they are to be pulled down for apartments," she said.

Silver Threads director Catherine Horne also complained about spiralling rents, temporary housing, and tenement-like conditions.

"The plaster has been off the walls, linoleum torn, and not a lick of paint on the places. The landlord will say openly that he has no intention of doing anything, and he doesn't care if he rents or not."

"A city lot will sell for $7,000 to $8,000, so it really doesn't matter too much to him," she said.

 

*****

 

 

Daily Colonist/The Victoria Express Weekend Edition
May 18, 1974

It's now big boxes, all in a row

Imagine, if you will, an inebriated apartment dweller reeling homeward after an evening's carousing.

The moral of this little fable is... to illustrate perhaps the most obvious feature of the modern apartment -- its consistency in duplicating itself almost endlessly, like some monolithic amoeba.

...it is the external evidence of this remorseless reproductive cycle, spreading across Greater Victoria's skyline with deadening monotony, that has been and still is responsible for much of the public criticism directed against apartment development in general.

Casa This or Vista That, the lawn-fronted, stucco-faced, balcony-hung frame apartment building has become the most predictable feature of our urban landscape in the past 20 years, and there isn't the slightest indication that things will be any different in the years ahead.

Oh, there are minor distinctive features, admittedly -- a mansard here, a mock-Tudor sprinkling of beams there, various other "cosmetic applique" touches in the words of a local architect.

But the basic product is virtually identical to its forebears in almost every case; a squat, slabby block with a central corridor running the length of the building, leading to apartments designed on the modular principle.

The buildings are well-engineered... They provide comfortable, well-heated accommodation at what is, all things considered, a not unreasonable price. They even have such luxuries as sauna baths.

 

  (aastra says: So were all of these apartments luxurious & unaffordable or were they just half-decent accommodations that seemed nice because they were new? Victorians still can't seem to make up their minds on this point.)

But, but, but... do they all have to look the same? Can't developers and the people who design their buildings exercise a little more imaginative innovation?

...zoning controls themselves tend to "constrain innovative design," in laying down inflexible standards for how much setback should be provided, separation from the flanking properties, parking provisions and so on.

All too often the effect of these regulations is to create a manicured frontage to the apartment which "gives the motorist something to look at," whereas greater latitude in municipal zoning might achieve far more intelligent use of the site to the direct advantage of the apartment tenants.

Victoria architect Terry Williams concedes that the parameters of the design function set by economics are minimal -- "you can only build so much suite for so much money" -- but believes there is still room for good design, and better use of materials than Victoria apartments generally receive.

While esthetics can't be divorced from economics... it must be recognized that design is a function of good planning...

One improvement Williams would like to see is the provision of a greater variety of units within an apartment block, ranging from three and four-bedroom family units on the ground floor to smaller units above and bachelor suites on the top floors.

He also believes the general design of buildings in the city would be improved if municipalities enforced through their own bylaws a section of the Architectural Professions Act, requiring plans for all projects in excess of $50,000 to be submitted under an architect's seal.

 

  (aastra says: This point was being made in 1974. Don't we have a 2019 news story from Langford about this same issue?)

Architect David Hambleton, who is chairman of the city's fledgling Advisory Design Panel, supports that view. About 95 per cent of all apartment buildings in the metropolitan area are designed by a small handful of design firms with no professional architectural involvement...

(When such a proposal was aired in the city of Victoria about two years ago, Mayor Peter Pollen said it smacked of a closed-shop policy. If the West End of Vancouver was any example, he said, architectural involvement was no guarantee of good product.)

...in the design panel's first year of existence there has been a marked change in the attitude of developers, builders, and designers. Most of them... have been "quite civic-minded" in responding to the panel's suggestions.

Victoria's future for higher density residential accommodation rests to a large extent in the townhouse or attached housing concept, which provides efficient use of ever-scarcer land yet gives the individual a sense of identity, privacy and territoriality.

"I feel there is a transition between the type of person who wants a full-fledged house and the person who wants to live in an apartment. This is the sort of halfway situation where they have something of their own -- a fairly small, compact living unit but in touch with the ground, with its own patio and private entrance."

 

*****

 

 

Daily Colonist
September 20, 1966

Apartment Life Steps Up

Luxury, prestige and peace of mind are three items which attract Victoria residents in ever-increasing numbers to become apartment dwellers.

The modern apartment offers a life of ease to a tenant. They can enjoy inviting swimming pools set in lush gardens, sauna baths, sundecks, balconies, piped-in music and other benefits which produce and impressive aura of gracious living.

There is little comparison between today's apartment and those of pre-Second World War vintage.

Apartment dwellers in prewar Victoria made up only six per cent of the city's population, whereas now they stand at more than 18 per cent.

Professional planners say the move to apartment living will continue to increase as more and more people find it expensive and less attractive to live in the suburbs.

 
  (aastra says: The suburbs are already out of fashion... in 1966! The love affair with post-1945 suburban life sure didn't last long. It almost makes one wonder how Saanich was able to grow by another ~55,000 people between then and now. Something tells me these guys would have found it difficult to comprehend 21st-century Langford.)

They claim the key to the present increasing trend to move from single-family dwellings into apartments lies in economics and convenience.

BIG POINT

A Victoria realtor said he felt man's natural laziness was also a big point in desirability of apartment life.

Aside from taking out the garbage, there are few other tasks concerned with apartment tenancy, he said.

The realtor observed that Greater Victoria has apartments that cater to every taste and every pocketbook. There are the Garden apartments, which unlike most will take children. Scattered throughout the area are numerous three- and four-storey apartment buildings, all luxurious in varying degrees.

Then clawing skyward are the high-rises, in which cost and luxury depend on the number of floors up and the number of rooms.

But all have been designed with one primary purpose -- a pleasant, carefree life for the tenants.

The inconveniences that used to be connected with multi-family dwellings have been refined out of modern apartment living. Resident managers are on call to iron out any threatened inconvenience from a leaky faucet to an over-volumed television set.

Suites vary in size as they do in rents in the various buildings, but the automatic elevator is an item they all have, whether it be a frame and stucco apartment or the lofty reinforced concrete and steel high-rise.

Even the elevator has been engineered for the pleasure of the tenants. They are generally high-speed, self-operated cars designed to ensure minimum waiting time.

"Elderly people have a fear of falling down steps," says an apartment manager. "The elevator makes it possible for them to live in a stair-free home, and this is hard to duplicate in a privately owned house."

Accommodation ranges from one-bedroom units to three-bedroom, two-bathroom units. Some contain more than 1,200 square feet of floor area.

Many have oak floors throughout. Others are completely equipped with wall-to-wall carpeting, while some have been finished in perpetually-polished, highly-glazed vinyl.

All suites are equipped with electric ranges and fridges, and the buildings have fully automatic laundry facilities provided for tenant use.

Most of the apartments also supply window drapes to keep the exterior appearances of the building uniform.

  (aastra says: are we seeing parallels to the hype and anxieties that surround today's supposedly luxurious apartments?)

In many suites, large sliding glass doors lead out onto private balconies.

 

  (aastra sayings: I stand corrected. Many of today's supposedly luxurious apartments don't even have balconies!)

"I don't think more than 10 per cent of the balconies throughout the whole area are ever used, but tenants prefer them just the same."

"Most likely it's the psychological effect of just being able to step outside into the fresh air whenever one feels like it. I guess it could be called some kind of an emotional escape hatch," he said.

 

  (aastra says: or it could be called a fundamental physical need to breathe fresh air)

Moving into an apartment does not mean the green-thumb artist must give up gardening. "Most apartment managers welcome suggestions and help in maintaining the building's landscaping.

Many of the most beautiful floral displays enhancing apartment grounds throughout the city were planted and are cared for by garden-happy tenants.

 

  (aastra says: the tenants are lazy and they don't like fresh air, but they can't resist doing unpaid yard work for property management companies.)

Like most modern buildings in this area, the high-rises have been designed to withstand earth tremors. Their foundations are anchored to the bedrock with steel dowels to give the building strength in coping with any horizontal movement of the earth.

According to the Victoria fire department, the threat of fire in high-rises has been brought to a minimum by the buildings' design and construction.

"They are mostly concrete, and also have sensing devices throughout the building which trip off the fire alarm system when room temperature raises above a set point," a deputy fire chief explained.

He also pointed out that smoke towers -- inside fire escapes -- were located at the ends of the hallways.

"These are separated from the rest of the building by smoke doors with an automatic closing system, and have been designed to withstand fire for approximately three-quarters of an hour."

In event of emergency at any of Victoria's high-rises, the fire department has pre-planned its strategy for use on each individual high-rise.

The demand for apartments is increasing, says a property manager of one of Victoria's largest rental agencies.

One tenant who moved into an apartment some six months ago said he would not trade this new way of living for anything.

"I am finally free of being tied to a house."

"I can come home from work now without having to mow the lawn, water the garden, or fix some household gadget that has broken down during the day."

"I come in after a busy day, put on my swim trunks, and head for the pool."

He said to own a house was fine -- he did for 25 years -- but if a person really wanted to get some enjoyment out of life he recommended apartment living.

"All I'm required to do now is to pay the rent, and everything I need for good relaxed living is right at my fingertips."

 

Edited by aastra, 13 June 2022 - 11:50 AM.

[Nparker]

What Mayor Pollen has since termed "the rape of James Bay" had begun; the extensive displacement of aging single-family homes with four-storey frame apartments and highrise towers

This was clearly before single-family homes were discovered to have been racist all along.

[dasmo]

Ah… this thread seems more like a WTF choir than a debate.

[Mike K.]

This plan is dead.

There is no way 5 or more councillors will vote for it, after what we’ve seen over the last four weeks. This is a failed execution and a mismanaged pursuit that will not deliver what it set out to deliver, and which is so complex that neither staff can articulate its impacts or council fully understand.

It’s done. We just have to go through the motions. I’m shocked at how mismanaged this affair has been.

[aastra]

 

...this thread seems more like a WTF choir than a debate.

 

I think that's debatable.

[dasmo]

I think that's debatable.

Official debate content! You win.

[aastra]

Anyway, cities and municipalities all over the world have been issued this "missing middle" narrative. But cities and municipalities all over the world also vary wildly re: their built form & mix of housing types, population density, demographics, employment and economy, income levels, real estate market trends and pressures, etc. Thus, the politicians who are tasked with pushing this are going to be obliged to put the definition of "middle" into a vice and then bend & twist it like crazy to suit the local situation.

[aastra]

 

...the politicians who are tasked with pushing this are going to be obliged to put the definition of "middle" into a vice and then bend & twist it like crazy to suit the local situation.

 

Not to mention the definition of "missing".

[Mike K.]

Out of our vice came the narrative that houses are racist.

[spanky123]

Out of our vice came the narrative that houses are racist.

 

Good to see such a large % of racial "victims" owning homes in Victoria though!

 

The other issue that the socialists like to gloss over is the difference between restricted SFH zoning and SFH zoning. Most of the comparisons they use are for cities that do not permit anything other than SFHs to be built. That of course is not what we have here. A developer can build a multiplex now as long as they follow the guidelines.

[dasmo]

The plan might be dead but if you listen to what Lisa says in her United Nations role she doesn't necessarily care what we think. 

from 2:24 on. 

"We intend to keep it that way. When we made that announcement there wasn't quite that much support. Some of the business on the street want to get "back to normal" but as all of us know there is no going back particularly with the climate crisis ahead of us. 

https://media.un.org.../k1g/k1gs59mhvs

Edited by dasmo, 13 June 2022 - 12:28 PM.

[dasmo]

So get ready to make a showing at the public hearing. 

[spanky123]

The plan might be dead but if you listen to what Lisa says in her United Nations role she doesn't necessarily care what we think. 

from 2:24 on. 

"We intend to keep it that way. When we made that announcement there wasn't quite that much support. Some of the business on the street want to get "back to normal" but as all of us know there is no going back particularly with the climate crisis ahead of us. 

https://media.un.org.../k1g/k1gs59mhvs

 

So MM will solve the climate crisis then? Wouldn't having less people go a lot further?!

[dasmo]

So MM will solve the climate crisis then? Wouldn't having less people go a lot further?!

That is Bill's job 

Edited by dasmo, 13 June 2022 - 12:35 PM.

[spanky123]

^ That is what makes the whole climate issue a big joke. Even if we cut emissions 30% over the next 20 years, we will have undone all of that with population growth. It seems that nobody wants to talk about the simplest solution.

[Nparker]

I did my part: no children.

[dasmo]

^ That is what makes the whole climate issue a big joke. Even if we cut emissions 30% over the next 20 years, we will have undone all of that with population growth. It seems that nobody wants to talk about the simplest solution.

Don't worry the experts are on it....saving lives reduces population! 

https://www.youtube....h?v=obRG-2jurz0

[Sparky]

I have been wondering of late where these socialist housing thoughts originate. It would appear that there are numerous writings on the subject

Here is one out of the US that I assume the “woke” elite are circulating.

https://socialistfor...against-sprawl/