ae»

VANCOUVER

Continued from page 1

“If we don’t have a place to relocate them
(illegal suite dwellers), we’re going to have a
disaster,” Green warned.

““We’d have a major crisis on our hands,”
agreed David Lane of the Tenants Rights
Action Centre, who said tenants in illegal
suites “‘live in fear all the time.

“Those tenants can’t phone up city hall if
they have a problem and call an
inspector — if they do, they'll be closed
down,” he said.

Lane said the long-term solution is affor-
dable housing, and asked council for a
commitment “so that we don’t have a cri-
sis.

Davies in an interview said that the NPA,
which took eight of city council’s 11 seats in
a right-wing electoral sweep last November,
is “making its move” because of some elec-
tion promises. She acknowledged that ille-
gal suites — which consist of either secon-
dary suites in a dwelling zoned for
single-family use, or the larger, and much
hated, “big houses” or “Vancouver specials”
— are a big problem, but charged that the
NPA is deliberately ignoring the other half
of the equation.

She said that low-income earners who fill
most of the city’s illegal suites are at risk
unless the city also moves to establish new
social housing and ensure that existing ille-
gal suites “are brought up to standards.”

What the latter option means is increas-
ing density in RS-1 zones, which currently
comprise 70 per cent of the city — a far
higher percentage than other major Cana-
dian Cities.

Davies pointed to a document released
last year by the city’s planning department.
Called The Vancouver Plan, it points out
that Vancouver faces some hard choices in

Some 21,000 illegal, secondary suites exist in single-family residence areas of Vancouver. But wholesale crackdowns
without a housing policy victimizes 40,000 people, COPE charges.

amusement park is slated for mainly resi-
dential use with a mix of rent levels.

B.C.’s trade unions also have a proposal,
tabled during last fall’s civic election, for a
mixed-income housing development (using

union pension plan surpluses as start-up’

money) on the former Expo lands between
the Cambie and Granville street bridges.

The NPA is posturing over the problem of illegal
suites — a problem they and other right-wing civic
administrations have ignored since World War II.

the near future, as the city grows and the
already severely limited growing space runs
out.

“The city of Vancouver is now just about
completely developed — there are only a
very few small vacant areas left — and
redevelopment at higher densities is con-
strained by restrictive residential zoning,”
states the report from city planning director
Ray Spaxman.

Acknowledging that “most city neigh-
borhoods continue to resist proposals to
change residential zoning and raise average
housing density,” the report also raises the
option of limiting the construction of new
office buildings. It notes that of the 70 mil-
lion square feet allotted for commercial
development, only 20 million are currently
filled.

Not surprisingly, the report and _ its
recommendations are opposed by senior
NPA alderman George Puil, who said in
council debate, “I don’t really give a damn
about the Vancouver Plan and what it says
about housing.”

Puil’s views — the right-wing alderman
has a long-standing feud with the planning
department — are consistent with NPA
practice which saw the big-business sup-
ported group back the initial plans for the
development of the then-new B.C. Place
Corporation back in 1982. At that time, the
provincial government was trying to foist
on the city a high-density, high-rise devel-
opment at premium rents and with a bare
minimum of social housing. COPE alder-

A city council document lists actions suc-
ceeding councils have taken on illegal suites
in RS-1 areas since the War Measures Act of
1940 first encouraged them as means of
alleviating wartime housing shortages.
While sporadic attempts at closure of the
suites show up in subsequent years, most of
council’s actions amount to allowing excep-
tions, such as the still current practice of
appealing for exemption from the zoning

) Post office occupati

bylaw on “hardship” — financial or medi-
cal — grounds, or to make allowance for
“parental” suites.

Between the years 1983 and 1986, when
COPE and its allies dominated city council,
there were several actions taken to limit
what. was clearly seen as abuses of the hard-
ship appeal. Last year the council ordered
closure of such suites where neighbors
launched legitimate complaints, initiated
monitoring of illegal suites in a “test” area
around the Joyce Skytrain station, and seta
public hearing on a proposed bylaw
amendment banning “secondary” kitchens
in RS-1 areas.

Such actions belie the NPA’s claims that
the former progressive councils did nothing
about the problem, and shows that the
right-wing council this time is posturing on
the issue, Davies charged.

“We amended the zoning bylaw to res-
trict the height and setback (the degree to
which a building occupies back yard space
on a lot) of new housing in RS-1 areas,” she
noted.

On Ws Cog

“The fact is that the NPA is playing on
the legitimate fears of people regarding the
threat to their neighborhoods, and they’re
exploiting the worst elements of that fear.”

Davies noted a “subtle racism” often
pervades opposition to big houses, which
are favored by Chinese- and Indo-
Canadians for whom the large, extended
family — rather the North American
nuclear family — is the norm.

There are alternatives to Vancouver spe-
cials, said Davies, noting the recent trend
towards higher-density, but attractive, co-
operatives and social housing projects.

But, she warned, strict adherence to pre-
serving all of the city’s RS-1 zoning brings
its own perils.

“Land in single-family dwelling areas
tends to increase in value, to the point where
one day working-class families won’t be
able to afford housing prices in Vancouver.
It'll end up as an executive city, which is just
dandy for the NPA.

“Viewed in that light, short-term preser-
vation may lead to long-term ruin.”

on marked

VANCOUVER, 1938 ... Police drive
depression jobless from main post
office, ending with tear gas and
clubs a peaceful occupation to
protest the lack of benefits for the
unemployed. The post office is now
part of the new, federally financed
Sinclair Centre and a plaque (inset),
from the city’s Centennial
Commission, was unveiled by
commission co-chairman Michael
Francis and Mayor Gordon Campbell
at a special ceremony Monday.
Former alderman Bruce Yorke, of
the Committee of Progressive
Electors, sat on the commission.

Oy _ THEOLD POST OFFICE &
‘Vancouver's Main Post Office (from 1910 10 1958) ?
the Hotel Georgia and the Art Gallery were taken over
‘on May 11, 1938 by some 1200 unemployed men
protesting lack of relief payments. They occupied the .
Post Office until June 20 when the use of tear gas by
the RCMP instigated the infamous Post Office Riot.

men and other council progressives were
demanding more social housing, less den-
sity and as few office towers and hotels as
possible.

Today that vision has largely won out, at
least where the development planned for the
first phase of the B.C. Place site adjacent to
Chinatown is concerned. Called North
Park, the former Expo 86 parking lot and

Ce

PHOTO — VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY #1276

2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 18, 1987