Dear Editor:
Burnaby city council likes to tell people that there’s nothing they can do to alleviate the high cost of housing, and that it’s up to senior levels of government to provide affordable housing for us. Council also likes to tell us that we have to zone for higher density, and there’s nothing they can do about what happens afterwards.
This is not true.
Section 482 of the Local Government Act makes clear that when establishing different density rules for a zone, municipalities can include conditions relating to the provision of affordable housing, including the number, kind and extent of that housing within the new zone. Zoning bylaws may also create areas within a zone specifically for affordable housing.
The following section of the act states that municipal governments can enter into housing agreements with property owners, and that the government can include terms on rents and lease, and the rates that rents can be increased over time.
This is all in plain language; it doesn’t mask itself in legalese. Our elected officials feel that they can do nothing to protect affordable housing. Don’t let them get away with this distortion of the law.
Trevor Ritchie, Burnaby
