A commentary by a retired architect who lives in Victoria.
I am not sure if I have read the following comment by Victoria Coun. Jeremy Caradonna multiple times about the 91-unit project at Quadra and Fisgard, or whether he and other councillors have raised this illogical argument about other recent rental housing projects.
Caradonna says, in justification of allowing this 91-unit project which under current zoning would require 60 off-street parking spaces to be approved with four, “I think the most recent statistics suggest that we have 25 per cent of households in Victoria (aged) between 20 and 25 that are already car-free, so we know that there’s big demand.”
Since there is no mention of any “affordable” or “supportive” housing units in this now approved building, I assume that all the suites will be rented at market rate.
I believe that the demographic group (20-25 year olds) are at the beginning of their working careers and that they do not generally command salaries that would allow them to move their carless lives into these market rate suites.
Coun. Matt Dell opines, “I do believe that saving the developer from digging down into bedrock three storeys with an approximate cost of let’s say a $100,000 per parking space… will translate into more affordable rent.”
Again, since there is no mention that mayor and council have required any affordable units, it is faulty logic to assume that Dell’s guesstimate of the $100,000 per parking space savings will be used by the developer to moderate rents as opposed to increasing the balance in their chequing accounts.
While there might be shortages of housing units in the Capital Regional District for people at all income levels, the easiest way to provide affordable/supportive suites for our most in-need neighbours, is for any muncipality in the CRD, especially Victoria, to require that developers provide a specific number of suites actually affordable for that demographic in each new development.
Dell’s assumption could become factual reality if he requires developers he thinks will save $100,000 per non-required parking space, to allocate that saving to actually lower rents.
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