By: Terry Lavender

Terry Lavender — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:05:38 +0000

Good article, Jonathan. Just to expand on my thoughts on rental housing: I’m in favour of STIR. The West End (and Vancouver) direly needs more rental housing and I believe we can achieve this by gradually replacing the aging stock of buildings with carefully planned, low-impact building. What concerns me is what seems to be a rush to build towers not in keeping with the neighbourhood without thinking of the overall community. I, and other West End activists, have been calling for a community visioning process for the neighbourhood that would involve residents, council, planning staff, developers, housing advocates, etc. so we can hopefully come to some sort of consensus on the best way to increase affordable rental accommodation in the West End while retaining the neighbourhood’s livability. Anton’s approach – to build more condos and hope that they’ll be rented out – does nothing to address the problem of how to increase rental stock without destroying the neighbourhood.

Comments on: Everyone recognizes the need for more rental housing – EXCEPT Suzanne Anton

By: Terry Lavender