Redevelopment of properties that require the temporary displacement of tenants presents an ongoing challenge. In some cases social housing providers adopt a strategy of keeping units vacant in other properties in preparation for a redevelopment but that can’t address the whole problem and also it is not an ideal solution as it decreases the availability of affordable housing.
A long-term solution requires a strategy for funding and creating sufficient units to provide the least disruption as possible over extended (redevelopment) periods. One possibility is to purpose build ‘transitional or interim buildings’ to house displaced tenants during redevelopment.
To provide the level of affordability required for these transitional units the best path is to secure land at zero cost. Existing non-profit housing providers, faith groups, service organizations etc. could earmark a piece of land for this purpose. Municipalities could provide leased land for, say, 60 or more years for free.
An innovative solution would be to create a specific housing bond to fund the development of laneway or carriage housing on privately owned property in exchange for a commitment to maintain below market rents for a set period (i.e. five years). This could leverage the $40K forgivable loan through the BC Housing Secondary Suite Incentive Program that applies to renovations and new construction.
Another possibility is that in the case of strip mall re-development and/or the development of workforce housing a percentage of new units could be used for limited period to help address this problem.
Besides determining an acceptable bond rate and preferred term(s) the community engagement program will gauge community interest and support for affordable housing solutions like the Secondary Suite Incentive Program from BC Housing.