Housing Vancouver is a 10-year strategy adopted by the City of Vancouver in 2017, that aims to foster a diverse and vibrant city. The strategy is based on three core principles: create the “right supply” while addressing speculative demand; retain the existing rental stock; and ensure support for vulnerable residents. These principles are enacted through new targets for housing to meet the needs of Vancouverites of all incomes, and a 3-Year Action Plan, which includes over 110 actions.
In total, the 10-year strategy calls for the construction of 72,000 homes. A particular focus is on providing 12,000 housing units for low-income households, especially families, seniors, and singles who cannot afford market rental or ownership housing, or who need supports in addition to safe, secure and affordable housing.
In 2018, additional measures were finally adopted to not only meet but exceed the goals set. The City of Vancouver's new approach focuses on providing municipal land and modest capital grants to leverage strategic partnerships and funding contributions from higher-level agencies and community partners. At the same time, the City continues to leverage municipal tools to protect existing affordable housing and enable the creation of rental and ownership options that are affordable to lower-income residents.
To facilitate this realignment, an Affordable Housing Endowment Fund was established, allowing the City to consolidate all non-market City assets into a single portfolio with a clear mandate to preserve and grow the stock of affordable housing for City residents.
Following the visit of a high-level delegation from Vienna to Vancouver, the two cities signed a Memorandum of cooperation in 2018 to share knowledge and jointly advance CO2-reduced yet affordable housing. This led to the development of the Vienna House in Vancouver, and to Vancouver House in Vienna (see IBA-Project "Waldrebengasse") - both are still in the planning phase and are scheduled to be implemented by 2024.
The current planning status for the Vienna House envisages a 7-storey, CO2-reduced passive house with more than 120 residential units, which are to be secured as social housing for the lifetime of the building according to the Housing Vancouver strategy.
Vienna House: Flythrough