I want to run something by you, readers.
Let’s say Mayor Gregor Robertson and his staff devise this plan to identify up to 23 city properties and offer them up in a deal with the federal government to build so-called affordable housing.
Let’s say the city properties are worth a combined $250 million and the ask of Ottawa is to contribute at least $500 million to get up to 3,500 housing units built.
And let’s just say all this construction would create up to 9,000 jobs over the next five years.
Kind of a big deal, right?
I’ll say.
Since Robertson and his Vision Vancouver team won a majority in 2008, the agenda at city hall has been dominated by what moves can be made to get people off the street, what can be done to build more rental housing and how to make this town more affordable.
So when the Vision crew cooks up a “bold and aggressive” proposal that could be worth up to $1 billion, I would assume – which is always a dangerous thing to do, I know – that us media types would get notice of a news conference to announce the finer details.
Makes sense, right?
Apparently, only if you work for the Globe and Mail.
As some of you learned when you woke up Tuesday morning, the Globe had an exclusive story about the mayor’s ambitious plan. I know, I know, a politician – or his backroom boys and girls – throwing a reporter a bone is not a new development in journalism. But c’mon, this is a big deal story where details should be circulated widely.
So, I had to play catch-up.
During a break after council’s morning session, the mayor agreed to take questions from reporters on the news of the day. So, in the 12 minutes and 44 seconds we had before Robertson had to do a live hit with some national news crew about his plan, we fired away….sort of.
We first had to listen to him react to the news that some misogynist was planning rallies in Vancouver; for the record, the mayor said he should not be welcomed here. He also talked about why the city hasn’t banned plastic bags and provided some comments on the city’s licensing scheme for marijuana dispensaries.
Yep, that ate up a lot of time.
When he did talk about the housing plan, he confirmed the figures in the Globe’s story – yes, 23 properties and, yes, $500 million from the feds and, yes, some money from the B.C. government would be nice, too.
“If [the B.C. government] wants to come in on the high side at $500 million, that enables us to do the maximum,” the mayor said. “The more the province comes in, the more affordability that we can hit, the more units that can be at welfare rates, for people on low incomes and seniors. It will be a big boost for the program, if we can get them involved.”
The properties are spread across the city, including downtown, the East Fraserlands and the Downtown Eastside. The mayor said he expects the sites to have a mix of housing, including some at market rates to help pay for the project.
How did he arrive at the $500 million?
“The $500 million ask is covering capital costs and some affordability that’s baked into the formula, so that we can get a combination of social housing, middle-income housing and market housing. So that’s typical of the overall affordable housing projects that we’re seeing the market being able to create on city-owned land.”
So that’s pretty much what I got.
Remember, folks, if the province bucks up for even half of the $500 million, we're talking a $1 billion deal. So I hope you can appreciate such a major proposal might have been worth more than a few sound bites from the mayor.
Anyway, as I write this, Robertson is in Ottawa pitching his proposal to his good friend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and ministers responsible for doling out the buckets of cash.
From the news trickling out of the nation’s capital and all the photos circulating on social media of Robertson’s grip-and-grins with Trudeau and his crew, it appears Vancouver is making more headway on a huge file than it ever did under the Harper government.
Which is good news for people in need of housing.
Maybe when the mayor returns, he can tell all of us about it at, say, a news conference.
@Howellings
