Let’s add the right kind of housing to Dunbar without losing liveability

By Bruce Gilmour, DRA president

This summer, my family and I enjoyed the pleasures of country life in the south Cariboo. However, with my ear to the ground, I was also learning about trouble brewing back home in Dunbar. It came out in dribs and drabs because the city did not bother officially informing the Dunbar Residents’ Association about big changes planned for our community. Now the story is less about being asked to the table and more about struggling with what we learned after the fact! As explained elsewhere in the DRA’s fall newsletter, the city is planning to allow four-, five- and six-storey rental buildings on blocks along arterials. Anyone who lives on a block adjacent to Dunbar Street might see four- or five-storey rental apartment buildings going up next door, with six-storey buildings on Dunbar.

The city says this is necessary because of the urgent demand for more rental housing. But I think the real need is affordable housing that meets the variety of needs in our community, from the young family starting out, to long-timers having to make changes as they age. The city’s failure to talk to residents means its plan does virtually nothing to ensure the resulting housing meets the needs of all ages and abilities, or is affordable. The new buildings will be mostly market rentals, which will be ridiculously expensive in a place like Dunbar. When land prices are sky-high, rents will match, and who will really be served by this plan except the builders, developers and rent collectors?

Lots of people will be hurt, though. People who have lived in these areas for decades, upgraded their houses and planned to retire in them, may find a four-storey apartment going up next door. There are better, less-disruptive ways of adding the kind of inclusive, affordable housing our area needs, and the city should be working with us in creating it without losing what has attracted us to this community in the first place.

Consultation is key. The DRA has had no official notification of updates to the neighbourhood plan, an engagement process, or timelines. Nor have residents in affected areas been told how to contribute to the plan. Apparently, the city now thinks that online surveys that most people don’t even know about are sufficient to check the communication box!

What can we do? Although public hearings on the plan began Nov. 2, there were so many speakers that they have been extended, with the next hearing Nov. 9. There’s still time to write council and speak out for the liveability that must be the starting point of any conversation about rezoning.

Let’s insist on a local process for creating housing that fits the size and scale of our neighbourhoods and adds to its inclusivity and affordability. Speak out to preserve retail character and diversity, green space and walkability, pedestrian safety and community gathering spaces, parks and playgrounds, traditions and heritage, and housing forms and character. Liveability is built from active and healthy neighbourhoods with affordable and inclusive housing for its residents!

How to contact city council:

Streamling Citywide Rental Rezoning letter to City

Nov. 2, 2021

City of Vancouver
Mayor Stewart and Council

Dear Mayor Stewart and Councillors:

Re: Streamlining Rental Citywide Rezoning

This letter is to inform you that the Dunbar Residents’ Association opposes the Streamlining Rentals proposal. We urge you to vote against it and work with communities like ours in finding better ways to bring needed housing to Vancouver.

We strongly believe that residents and neighbourhood associations should be consulted and considered an integral part of the discussion before significant changes to our communities are introduced. The DRA has not had the courtesy of even an official notice of this plan, and we know many of our residents are unaware of it.

This council’s approach is markedly different from that of the late 1990s, when a year’s worth of intense citizen engagement led to the Dunbar Community Vision. Residents’ opinions were treated as if they mattered, and there were workshops, surveys and community liaison groups to create the plan, which was approved by council in 1998. Residents accepted new types of housing such as rowhouses and four- and sixplexes along arterials, provided they were small-scale, fit into the area, and the community continued to have some say in the details.

If this council were willing to collaborate instead of imposing top-down citywide rezoning, we believe residents would be equally willing to embrace change today. With proper consultation, the city may find that small-scale, gentle-density zoning options are more effective in this community than the one-size-fits-all solution it is proposing. Under this approach, the city could encourage new types of housing with density bonuses for duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, and discourage single-family luxury homes with a slight reduction in density for them.

The DRA acknowledges the need for more family-friendly, affordable housing, especially for people who work in Vancouver, and welcomes opportunities to collaborate with the city in adding it to our community.

Please reject this proposal and start again with a more collaborative, consultative approach with neighbourhoods.

Yours truly,

DRA President Bruce Gilmour, on behalf of the Dunbar Residents’ Association