Efforts to increase housing in the city of Vancouver are reasonable and necessary. New construction and more density are key to reducing the region’s homelessness crisis.
The Vancouver City Council this week approved an emergency interim ordinance allowing for more accessory dwelling units, duplexes, cottage clusters and small-lot housing. The move follows the Legislature’s passage of House Bill 1220 in 2021, which requires cities to increase space for housing.
In Vancouver, the city must add capacity for 30,000 additional units, and approximately half of them must fit into the “affordable” range. To help reach that goal, the city council now is allowing up to two ADUs or duplexes on a lot.
“They are steps in the direction that we know we need to go,” said Bryan Snodgrass, long-range principal planner for the city.
Yet, while there is good reasoning behind the ordinance, the move does raise some questions.
One involves why the ordinance suddenly was given emergency priority. The state mandate was passed three years ago; the need for increased housing long has been evident; and homelessness has been a growing and festering concern for several years.
City officials say they will hold a public hearing on the ordinance — which went into effect immediately — within 60 days. Considering that housing has been an emergency for some time, it might have been helpful to seek public input prior to passing the ordinance.
The ordinance also eliminates the requirement for a neighborhood meeting prior to construction. Officials say this will streamline the process, but limiting public input is not a hallmark of responsive government.
“What neighborhood associations have found is that the conversation sometimes happens, many times doesn’t happen,” Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle said. “And so the elimination of this meeting means that there is nothing in our (municipal code) that allows the neighborhood association to identify the issues and concerns in the process.”
Eliminating the requirement for a neighborhood meeting is an invitation for discord and unhappy neighbors. Snodgrass said neighborhood associations will have an opportunity to weigh in during the pre-application process; but most residents do not pay attention to that process and will feel blindsided if an unexpected project begins construction.
There also are questions about the role that short-term rentals (such as VRBO and Airbnb) play in a housing shortage — and whether ADUs will be built solely for that purpose rather than to provide housing. Many cities have wrestled with that question, and a report this year from Harvard Business Review found that, “Restricting Airbnb is not going to be an effective tool for solving the housing-affordability problems in many U.S. cities.” But the issue warrants examination.
In December, the Vancouver City Council adopted regulations for short-term rentals, which previously were not allowed — a prohibition that was rarely enforced. The regulations were approved as a two-year pilot program; when it expires, officials should weigh how it meshes with the new ADU rules.
Vancouver has been responsive to the increase in homelessness. Voters have supported an Affordable Housing Fund property-tax levy, and the city has constructed four Safe Stay communities for previously unhoused people.
The latest ordinance will not lead to immediate relief for the housing crunch, but the hope is that it will make a difference over time. As Snodgrass said: “This won’t lead to a land rush. I think this will lead to incremental, additional housing options.”
