Now that many young people are expecting to rent for life – if they want to live in Vancouver – developers have woken up to the formerly neglected rental market. Renting has for too long been seen as second to owning, but in Vancouver at least, that attitude will soon have to change in the face of unaffordability and a rental vacancy rate below 1 per cent.
In Vancouver, the push for rental housing is moving forward, with a few new significant developments under way.
Condo marketer Bob Rennie has taken the position that he’d like to see rental housing get yet more priority around transit hubs. He’s pushing for the creation of “rental zones.” That would require a legislative change, since the City of Vancouver can’t currently create zoning according to tenure. Mr. Rennie would like to see the creation of 10,000 rental units in the next five years, all close to transit, since renters use transit more often than homeowners.
