Affordable housing was initially introduced under the Rental 100 program in 2012 when construction costs were significantly lower than today’s. Rents were tied to 30% of median income, meaning developers typically constructed affordable units and operated them without any profit or loss. Building these units without any incentive constituted an “amenity” for the city and waived the Development Cost Levies (DCL) and later the Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) charge.
Affordable housing’s intention is to be non-subsidized housing, keeping rents within a reasonable range for people to afford and still allowing the building to operate without any profit or loss.
Social housing has low rental rates and is heavily subsidized by the operator, which is commonly taxpayer dollars.
Over the last decade, these two distinct types of housing have blended as people expect social housing rents when they hear about affordable housing. A good example is Burnaby requiring “affordable housing“ to be 20% below Canadian Mortgage Housing Companies’ (CMHC) average rents. These rental rates are significantly below sustainable levels and require the units to be consistently subsidized by the operator, so they are incorrectly labeled “affordable housing“ when they should be labeled “social housing.”
First, we must clarify the difference between affordable and social housing. Social housing is a massive burden on society and kills the feasibility of new development, which should only be mandated under unique circumstances. Affordable housing should be net neutral in terms of profit and loss on building and operating the units, providing long-term viability. Making the affordable housing units viable means we must keep adjusting the allowable rents as building costs and median incomes rise. Keeping rents at reasonable levels will reduce incentives for tenants to sublease units, raising the barrier for bad actors. Finally, there needs to be penalties if a tenant illegally subleases a unit. Having consequences for gaming the system will create huge disincentives and remove the need for costly government oversight.
Affordable housing may be a worthwhile amenity if implemented correctly, but we need to ensure its long-term feasibility with proper checks and balances in place so society doesn’t end up in an inevitable scandal a decade from now.
Amandeep graduated from BCIT with a diploma in Professional Real Estate from the Marketing Management program. With a strong passion for real estate, he understands that the process can be stressful and overwhelming. He dedicates his time to guiding clients every step of the way, ensuring the experience is as smooth and successful as possible. Amandeep takes pride in seeing projects come to life and making his clients happy.
Kat Rigter is a commercial real estate advisor and Senior Associate with the ApartmentBlocks Team specializing in the organization and sale of multifamily designated land. Kat has been a central member of the team since 2020, helping facilitate over $200 million in development land sales across the Metro Vancouver Region.
Kat’s persistency and relentless pursuit of ensuring her clients best interests are well represented is second-to-none, which has greatly contributed to her and her team’s success and reputation as one of Metro Vancouver’s leading land assembly teams.
Kat is an active participant in several real estate organizations including CREW (Commercial Real Estate for Women) and is passionate about building relationships within in the industry to help align the right buyers to her clients.
Personal Real Estate Corporation
Team Principal
(604) 349-1571
brandon@apartmentblocks.ca
Brandon Harding is the authority on Land Assembly, a published writer, and a community leader for changing land use in updating Official Community Plans. He is a second generation realtor that has personally transacted over $1,000,000,000+ in sales. Organizing and transacting land has been his passion since listening and learning about the positive impact that can result from successful assemblies through his father, who has been a Commercial Realtor since 1980. Brandon successfully transacted the largest high density land assembly by number of homes.
Brandon has developed the homeowner eligibility test and the PROACTIVE sales funnel, which has revolutionized land assembly and simplified the process for property owners while systematically achieving unmatched results.
Brandon is a thought leader in Commercial Real Estate. Some of his work is published on RENX, LandlordBC, and the Western Investor.
Brandon’s a community coordinator helping homeowners organize, strategize, and deliver a unified voice to Mayors, Councilors, and planning departments. This has led to thousands of property owners achieving higher designations for their properties and making them millions in increased land value. He has the experience and knowledge to empower real change that leads to life changing benefits.
Lauren previously was the Graphic Designer with the developer Peterson Group for over six years. Her experience working from the view of developers gives her an edge creating new engaging marketing material to attract developers and get them to pay premiums for the team’s land assemblies. By highlighting and featuring all the unique attributes of each land assembly in a visually appealing and deliberate way she efficiently helps bring more buyers with more offers to help drive competitive bid pressure and ensure the highest chance of a successful outcome for homeowners.
My name is Nicholai Malinousky, I am a graduate from British Columbia Insitute of Technology with a diploma in Marketing Management, specializing in real Estate. I was introduced to the real estate industry at a young age, and naturally took interest. I am now looking to make an impact to my team and projects with my fresh perspective and a strategic mindset.
