Provincial funds are allowing a city east of Vancouver to take a different approach to affordable housing: buying three residential towers outright.
The city of Burnaby coordinated the purchase of three co-op towers, at 9380-9390 Cardston Court and 4221 Mayberry St., with the city putting $29.8 million toward the purchase price and the province contributing $110.1 million through BC Housing, for a total of $139.9 million, according to a statement from BC Housing. The funds financed the purchase by the nonprofit Community Land Trust, which preserves affordable and co-op housing in the province. The seller was the Operating Engineers' Pension Plan.
The province's statement said the move preserves 425 units of affordable housing in co-op ownership.
Average asking rents in the city have steadily risen over the past five years to almost $1,400 per unit in the second quarter from around $1,000 per unit in 2017, according to CoStar research.
The rise follows a trend of rising rents in the broader Vancouver area, creating what officials have described as an affordability crisis.
And as development times have extended for multifamily projects, social housing units included in new buildings have likewise been delayed, contributing to a housing shortfall that an April report from the city of Vancouver estimated at 86,000 homes.
While the purchase doesn’t move the municipality closer to addressing the housing shortage because it doesn't create new units, it ostensibly preserves the buildings from redevelopment.
The province also contributed $22.5 million toward renovations and closing costs on the buildings.