B.C.'s newly created Rental Protection Fund has dozens of affordable-housing organizations across the province vying for grants that would allow them to acquire buildings and offer units at rents below market rates.
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As is often the case in housing debates, the proposal before Vancouver city council this week is being described in starkly different terms depending on who you ask. For some, a series of bylaw amendments intended to aid social-housing construction is a “baby step.” Others say it goes way too far.
Vancouver council is considering a staff proposal intended to make it faster, easier and less expensive to build social housing in certain mid-rise apartment zones. The amendments would allow non-profits to build social-housing developments of up to six storeys in these areas without requiring them to go through the expensive, time-consuming and public process of rezoning.