Avenue Magazine Calgary

Vancouver's Inclusionary Zoning Policy

Posted by Avenue Staff in The Big Idea on Mar 18 2010 16:56

Comparing Vancouver's affordable housing crisis solutions to Calgary's is a simple way to separate lofty goals from viable projects.

Too often, we generalize by assuming the number of existing projects is indicative of each city's overall effort, placing Calgary well behind our west coast neighbours.

But it's a difference in zoning policy most of us ignore that plays a major role in Vancouver's continual green light of affordable housing projects.

 The Inclusionary Zoning Policy is a major piece of municipal legislation adopted by Vancouver's Charter in 1988. Inclusionary Zoning requires "new residential developments to include a percentage of affordable housing units as a condition of development approval."

The policy states that residential developers in Vancouver must ensure anywhere from 5 to 35 percent of their large projects consist of affordable units (with 15 percent being the accepted medium). This means at some capacity - nearly every new housing project in Vancouver addresses affordability.

In Calgary, no such measure exists because the Province regulates most zoning policies. And with so many rural ridings being accounted for when Legislature meets, urban affordable housing often doesn't receive its due attention.

The merits and drawbacks Inclusionary Zoning has had on Vancouver's affordable housing crisis can and should be discussed at great length, but it is important when we include Calgary in the same conversation to acknowledge and understand the difference in policy.