West Van has least affordable housing in region: planner

To determine what type of housing they need – and how much of it they should get – West Vancouver is pursuing $30,000 in provincial funding to help pay for a housing report.

Covering population, demographics and economics, the report is slated to include 50 data sets as well as analyses of housing needs from several perspectives, including those of seniors and residents with special needs.

The district is in a “deficit position of housing,” advised director of planning and development Jim Bailey.

“We have one of the lowest vacancy rates. We have one of the least diverse types of housing in the region with a huge slant toward single-family housing,” he told council. “I could comfortably say we have likely the most unaffordable housing in the region.”

Coun. Bill Soprovich pressed staff during the meeting, asking if the report would tell council “something we don’t already know.”

“We already know that there’s a need,” he said.

The district’s official community plan calls for 500 coach houses, 1,000 townhouses and 3,500 apartments by 2041. However, a new report could offer more specificity about the housing types needed, Bailey said.

But while the report may offer a closer look at the problem, Bailey emphasized it was not a solution.

“As your director of planning, I’m telling you: you need to approve applications to provide for a variety of housing types,” he told council.

He also suggested council had recently fallen short of approving 230 units per year – the amount of housing necessary to meet projections laid out in West Vancouver’s official community plan.

“I don’t think council really needs to worry about overachieving in terms of greater housing needs,” Bailey said.

If the provincial funding is granted, the housing report would likely be presented to council by the spring of 2021, according to a staff report.

Council voted unanimously to direct staff to pursue the funding,

West Vancouver’s official community plan is focused on regenerating single-family oriented neighourhoods with “sensitive” infill housing while expanding the missing middle, advancing affordability and accessibility, and respecting neighbourhood character.