Editor:
I was in attendance at the April 24 Burnaby city council meeting. During a brief review of the Emerald Place Development proposal for the Brentwood Area, a too-short discussion was had pertaining to the proposal and some questions were raised to city staff why the non-market rental units included in the development did not have any three bedroom units.
City staff reasoned that their formula to determine the need for three-bedroom units has something to do with a development’s proximity to schools. One council member referenced an outdated 1980s National Occupancy Standard that suggested boys and girls after the age of seven should have their own rooms.
Between the city staff reasoning and the council references, I was left thinking that the council members are either too old to get it, or too young to understand. The 1980s are over. Norman Rockwell paintings are a thing of the past just like reruns of Leave It to Beaver remind us of a time that will never happen again.
Council members all campaigned about supporting inclusivity and diversity, but I don’t think they really get what that means. Diversity is about representation and make-up of an entity. Inclusion about equality in valuing people to integrate into an environment.
The argument to include three-bedroom units, whether into non-market or market housing, should be to allow six people to afford to live in Burnaby by living together, regardless of who they are. A family does not need to be created by DNA, or marriage, but by inclusivity of people sharing equally the need to survive in a time where rental rates are at all-time high.
A three-bedroom rent split six ways is simply cheaper than a two-bedroom rent split four ways. It’s not a difficult concept to understand. This is why you see people lining up to shop at Costco.
Thanks to Mayor Hurley’s initiatives to rapidly expand community centres and outdoor space in Burnaby, and the B.C . government’s recent grant to local governments to help build community infrastructures, it is completely tolerable if not enjoyable to live with many people in a small apartment since there are a lot of great places in Burnaby to walk to for recreation to get some alone time if wanted.
A three-bedroom apartment is not simply for a mommy, daddy, daughter and son. Those days are way gone and council and city staff need to wake up to what is actually going on in Burnaby right now today, and use that reality as the model to build on for the future. Please don’t look to the ’80s for advice.
If council are not going to bring reality to city staff to guide them, then I beg city staff to please step up and bring some reality to city council.
We need three bedroom non-market and market homes in Burnaby for anyone who wants to live there.
Morgan Nicholsfigueiredo
SOUND OFF: What do you think? Should developments near schools include three-bedroom units?
