More than any other person, famed urban geographer Dr. Walter Hardwick shaped today’s Vancouver. He organized the successful movement to oppose a freeway through downtown Vancouver (the Georgia Viaduct is the only remnant of this traffic system).
Also, he was the primary visionary of both the Granville Island Public Market and the residential development of south False Creek. His book, Vancouver Urban Futures, was the impetus behind the current regional town-centre model of development for the entire Lower Mainland.
The citizens of the City of Burnaby should be proud that our long-serving mayor, Derek Corrigan, has been instrumental in continuing the vision of Hardwick by encouraging high-density development around Burnaby’s SkyTrain stations. Residents of Burnaby are blessed to have two rapid-transit lines run through our city, and we have an obligation to provide livable communities to as many residents as possible.
Recently, Corrigan has been under considerable pressure to limit the redevelopment of older buildings around Metrotown. The concerns being raised by those adversely impacted by these “demovictions” are real and unfortunate. However, as a community, we must decide which housing policy will serve the greatest number of people.
Advocates for the status quo argue that existing tenants will never be able to afford newer housing and will be displaced forever. However, a comparison of the Metro Vancouver housing market and the greater Seattle housing market tells a much different story.
Like Metro Vancouver, greater Seattle has seen rapid growth and Seattle is now headquarters to some of the world’s largest corporations like Microsoft, Amazon, Costco and Starbucks (to say nothing of the on-going impact of Boeing on the region).
However, as rental rates in Vancouver continue to rise, rental rates in Seattle are moving in the other direction. In a June 25 article in The Seattle Times, business reporter Mike Rosenberg states: “As new apartments open across the city in record numbers, vacancy rates have grown, rents have stopped rising and landlords are offering an increasing number of freebies to get tenants in the door.”
The article continues: “A glut of new apartments washing over the city has quickly turned the tables as vacancy rates hit their highest level since the recession, led by downtown Seattle, where one-fourth of all apartments are now sitting empty. Landlords who are increasingly hard-pressed to fill their apartments are offering deals like a free month’s rent, lucrative gift cards and even free electronics.” Some landlords are offering two months free rent. The 26-per-cent vacancy rate in downtown Seattle is up from only five per cent one year ago.
This is happening because Seattle is getting more new housing units in five years than it has seen in the previous 50 years.
In 2016, the Seattle area was building more apartments per capita than any other city in the United States, and construction has only sped up since then. The solution to Vancouver’s housing crisis is not to limit supply by restricting redevelopment around our transit hubs. In order for our rental rates to fall, supply must start to outstrip demand. Rental rates increased because migration to the region has exceeded available housing units. Rental rates will decrease when this trend reverses and the supply of new housing exceeds demand.
Those hoping that the government can fill the void and provide subsidized housing to all takers will be sorely disappointed. The government simply does not have the resources to provide housing to anyone other than the most vulnerable members of our society.
For everyone else, the voters of Burnaby must decide whether we want to continue with the wisdom of Hardwick and Corrigan and build a truly livable regional district, or experiment with polices that are doomed to failure.
Hugh Woolley is a longtime Burnaby resident who studied under Hardwick at UBC.
