CIH visit to Canadian Housing & Renewal Association (CHRA)

Report on Attendance of 36th Annual Canadian Housing & Renewal Association's Congress: 31 March - 03 April 2004, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The CHRA report is also available to download as a PDF (288KB)

Early on Saturday morning, 27 March 2004, Alistair Queen and I met at Heathrow to catch our plane to Vancouver for the annual congress of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association (CHRA). 25 hours later, we arrived at our destination and set about acclimatising ourselves to the sights and sounds of this cosmopolitan city on the Pacific coast of Canada.

Our purpose here to attend the annual conference and maintain and develop links with our Canadian friends in the CHRA and the other organisations attending this event.

Our last visit to Canada had been with the South East Region's study group in October last year, when we visited Ottawa and Toronto with a group of 25 members. Because of the close affinity with our CHRA colleagues, they were invited to attend our annual conference at Brighton this March. We were delighted to have John Metson, their President, and Michelle Rypstra, their Vice President, present an extremely thought provoking workshop on the affordable housing scene in Canada. Also presenting a workshop at that conference was Oliver Brerup of the Export Division of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Government of Canada's National Housing Agency. Oliver's workshop looked at the benefits of Canadian housing, particularly off site manufactured housing and the Super E brand. Both workshops were extremely well attended and all three played a very active part in our regional conference.

You will see from the content of this report that many of the issues and challenges which our colleagues in Canada face have already been addressed or are being met in this country. The opportunity to share experiences and ideas is of great importance to all concerned.

The CHRA Congress was a truly international event, with speakers from New York and Washington. Also joining the Congress were several delegates from housing organisations in South Africa, who were guests of Rooftops Canada.

As Sunday was a free day, we decided to carry out our own, on foot, exploration of Vancouver. On the Monday, we had arranged to meet Cameron Gray, Director of the City of Vancouver's Community Services, Housing Centre. Looking round the city on foot would give us the opportunity to familiarise ourselves and see if we could tease out one or two issues which we could then discuss with Cameron.

Vancouver is a city of contrasts - the coast and river frontages represent a forest of high rise, prestigious commercial buildings and condominiums for the better off. The difference between the 'have's and 'have not's are extremely apparent and there is a very high incidence of street homeless, particularly youngsters, substantially more than that I have ever witnessed in London for example. In our efforts to cover as much of the city as possible, we passed from one district 'Gas town' into another 'China town' through what appeared to be a no man's land of deprivation.

In retrospect, this was not a good idea, particularly at 6pm when there was clearly a very active trade in recycled materials taking place on the streets and in or two old abandoned shops adjacent to one of the voluntary hostels which provided a drop-in centre and overnight accommodation in the east side area which was where we were. Recycling took the form of trade in clothes and all other manner of materials, both legal and illegal. It must have been pretty clear to those that we walked amongst, that we were visitors to the city, but we were never put at any risk to ourselves, nor asked for money, although Alistair's habit of smoking made him an extremely popular guest to Vancouver's street homeless. Our walking tour offered us a number of questions which we would be able to put to Cameron the next day. It was clear that there is a relative prosperity on the west coast of Canada, and Vancouver certainly enjoys a high percentage of it. Property prices are rocketing and the desire and the need for new accommodation to fit all budgets is apparent. We wondered what the City's strategy was for meeting this challenge, particularly with what we perceived to be the great opportunity Vancouver had been presented with as host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

City of Vancouver - Cameron Gray

And so to Monday and our visit to Cameron Grey. We made our way across the City to City Hall which stands on a small hill overlooking the rest of Vancouver. We were in the wrong office - his was down the road in a small annexe above some shops. We were not overly surprised. We made our way to the Housing Centre and were delighted to meet up with Cameron Grey, the Director. He was obviously pleased to see us but a little nervous as to what he could do to help us in our enquiries. We explained that we had come for the CHRA conference and felt that it would be a good idea to find out a little bit more about our host City and he was delighted to oblige. It is perhaps worth noting that the City of Vancouver has a mission statement which is "to create a great City of communities which cares about its people, its environment and the opportunities to live, work and prosper", and one of our intentions was to see if Cameron could explain how the City of Vancouver intended to achieve this. He provided us with a copy of our Report, "The State of Non-Market Housing in Vancouver (Affordable/Social Housing)" which he had prepared for the City. This Report gave an overview of the position of social housing in the City and of the need for more to be done. Some key facts:

"As of the end of 2001, there were over 20,000 units of social housing in the City which accounted for 8.5% of the City's housing stock. A further 2,200 were either under construction or were in development. These social housing units would be available to households who cannot afford market rents. It is operated by Government Agencies, non-profit societies and co-operatives with most of the funding being provided by federal and provincial Governments.

"In the past fifty years, the City has been involved in social housing, primarily in providing sites. In the past thirty years, the City has leased sites for non-market housing and today, 37% of all social housing units are on City owned land. This land is made available on leases for 60 years and with a pre-paid rent equal to 75% of freehold market value. The 25% lease discount represents the value of the freehold that the City will get back in 60 years.

"In general terms, households should not have to pay more than 30% of their gross income on rent. Any household that does is considered to be in core need. 25% of all households in the City are in core need and most of them are renters."

In 1993, the federal Government (central Government) ceased funding new social housing and since 1995, the City of Vancouver and the Province have provided social housing in Vancouver. From 1994 to 2001, the City spent $43.2 million Canadian dollars (approximately £20 million) to buy sites for social housing. It also provided $17.7 million in capital grants. In return, the Provinces provided funding for 3,800 units in Vancouver.

Cameron's Report to the City Council on the way forward contained six major recommendations.

The first was that the City confirms its social housing priority, namely to expand its housing opportunities for low and modest income households with priority being given to families with children, older people or people on fixed income or in need of support.
That the Province be asked to continue funding social housing at its base rate of 600 units per year.
That the City continues its land purchase and lease programme and its capital grant programme for social housing. (Over the next three years, it is recommended that the City commits $2 - 3 million annually in lease discounts and the same amount in capital grants. (A total of $6 million).
The City supports the federal grant capital programme for rental housing.
Explores the feasibility of developing an inventory of all purpose built and stratified rental housing in the City.
To assist in the development of central register for social housing.

It might be useful here just to provide several definitions.

"Affordable housing refers to any housing that provides some degree of relative affordability."

"Social housing serves households who struggle to pay market rents (core need households). Social housing is built to modest design criteria and under restrictive budgets and has also been called low cost housing."

The general criteria which Cameron works to, to encourage and 'bully' new affordable housing and social housing to be provided are as follows:

To increase the supply of subsidised lower cost market rent throughout the City through the use of senior Government programmes, private sector incentives and City Regulations and subsidies. For example, maintain or increase the ratio of subsidised housing to market housing as the City grows; continue current initiatives to support subsidised housing and support and explore new funding sources; use incentives to encourage the private sector to provide lower cost housing or require a percentage of new units to be more affordable; maintain a stock of rental housing; ensure that City Regulations do not unduly increase housing costs; support actions to increase the housing supply and help to minimise price increases due to scarcity.
The Council policy is to require that 20% of the units in new neighbourhoods be designated for non-market housing, priority being for core need households.
Use a percentage of development cost levies to replace affordable housing lost through redevelopment (planning obligations?) and value a sixty year lease at 75% of freehold market value.

Cameron then proceeded to give us a general introduction to the City of Vancouver and the challenges that it faced in providing accommodation for all its intended inhabitants. The Province of British Columbia totals 4 million people with Vancouver having a population of 2 million. The resources that were historically available have been severely diminished. Unemployment, particularly urban drift and from the Aboriginal/Indian and Inuit population are major challenges, with people gravitating to the Cities but often not being ready for urban life. In British Columbia there is a total of 2,000 homeless and 1,000 of which are in Vancouver, consequently benefits for street homeless are much more difficult to acquire, and there is a problem with people suffering from various mental health difficulties. In Vancouver, there are 600 shelter beds. In east side and other less well off districts of the City, there is a high percentage of old, run down hotels which offer budget accommodation for singles, which complies with the benefit level of $375.00 per month, (which the single, jobless are able to apply for). In the Summer, there have been occasions where parts of the City's buildings and public paths have been taken over by tent cities of the homeless.

Many homeless are young and are set adrift at nineteen. There are lots of problems with mental and physical illnesses, ie., when people come out of fostering etcetera, which add to the challenges that the youngsters have to face.

The election in Canada of a left wing Government in November 2003 and some promises on action on the homeless and housing in general was felt to be a positive and promising step. Vancouver as a City is very multi-cultural in its population with at least 40% being of Asian extraction. New technology industries are very abundant and consequently, the whole of British Columbia is very reliant on the world economy, particularly for items such as wood pulp. Much of the new housing development is either funded or undertaken by Asian Companies. As mentioned earlier, all new developments are expected to provide 20% affordable. In theory, the affordable housing is funded by the Government (federal). The total number of units within the City built on its own land is 8,000. Any new development now carries a development tax levy of �6.00 per square foot, a third of which is directed towards affordable housing, in particular, mixed rental units which meet a range of needs.

Affordable housing in Vancouver is spread through 300 sites, with the average household size being 2.1. 75% of the housing stock is one bedroom with very few three bedroom family homes. There are very few houses. In fact, the City has more family housing than the private sector. There seem to be some real issues between the various layers of Government in Canada, particularly in Provinces and Cities such as British Columbia and Vancouver, and I believe also in Quebec where social housing is really a Regional, if not a City/Town responsibility and that responsibility is clearly put on them by the federal Government, but where no funding follows that responsibility, or if it does, it is of a very small element.

A little about the Housing Centre which Cameron heads.

To carry out all these functions of providing and encouraging and stimulating new development for affordable and social housing need in Vancouver, he has a staff of 12! The Centre was established in 1992 with the purpose of developing and implementing the City's Housing Policy to develop initiatives and produce projects and policy for the City to adopt. Since 1994 when records were completed, the Housing Centre had been able to provide over 1,700 units and have under construction, another 910 with 1,100 in the pipeline. We were extremely impressed with the commitment shown by Cameron and his team, bearing in mind the constraints under which they are expected to work and produce affordable housing for people in need.

Cameron also told us about a couple of other interesting aspects of the City of Vancouver. In particular, he told us about a new initiative which he was bringing in on behalf of the City called "Secondary Suites". Legislation is being introduced to legalise secondary suites. This is happening more and more in Vancouver where predominantly single homes can be converted to provide a second flat in the house or maisonette, ie., a basement can be rented out to help with mortgage payments, security, etcetera. There are already 25,000 in place, and 2,000 illegal secondary suites. An interesting initiative, and I wonder how it would fare in the UK?

We were also told about the recycling policy of the City of Vancouver and the effect that it had had on the street homeless. The Government is very keen to adopt recycling initiatives and has introduced subsidies for recycling, for example 10 cents per bottle. This has had a very interesting impact on the street homeless and the hostel dwellers of Vancouver, who now seem to see themselves as champion of the recycling industry. They spend much of their time during the day and more often, in the middle of the night, checking out resident's dust-bins and street bins for potential recycling material, which has earnt them the name of 'binner' or more amusingly, 'dumpster divers'. This is what we had come across on Sunday evening down in east side, was the trade taking place. A popular mode of transport and also storage of recycling materials are supermarket trolleys. Quite often late at night, the silence would be broken by a supermarket trolley rolling down a hill laden with plastic bottles and cartons, with its dumpster diver hanging on for grim death on the back, and avoiding quite skilfully, all the traffic that presented itself in his way.

We took our leave of Cameron and were truly impressed at this great character in the housing world in Vancouver, who clearly was extremely dedicated to his work and we look forward to meeting up with him again during the Conference.

Prior to the conference, I noticed a declaration on homelessness which had been published in the local daily newspaper, The Vancouver Sun, and some of its key points which take the form of a Charter are worthy of repeat here. Apparently, the Vancouver Sun had been running a series of articles titled "No Fixed Address" highlighting that not all homeless people were a single problem, but there was invariably a complex set of issues and that the problems of homelessness require a set of solutions that are sensitive to the variety of people living on the streets, and to the different causes and consequences of homelessness. The key elements of their Charter were:

That there must be an holistic approach with all levels of Government, non-profit groups and private sector developers working together in a co-ordinated and integrated way to eliminate homelessness and reduce the risk of people becoming homeless in the future.
Federal Government should encourage developers and not-for-profit agencies to build low income housing by eliminating tax rules that act as a disincentive to developments. The federal Government must provide some funding for development through its cities initiative.
Provincial Government should encourage development of low income housing by providing tax incentives to developers.
Municipal Government should encourage the development of low income housing by reducing development fees (planning obligations) and amending design by-laws to permit residential hotels and low income and mixed housing.
Municipalities should legalise secondary suites to increase the stock of low income housing.
The City of Vancouver should encourage the development of single room occupancy units by scrapping laws that require apartments to be at least 320 square foot.
Municipalities must act quickly and decisively in disallowing squats in public parks since the squats exist primarily to promote the agenda of certain activists but do little to immolate the conditions of the homeless.

Some interesting food for thought here, particularly the question of tax and planning obligations and secondary suites.

There is a very good website for the City of Vancouver - www.city.vancouver.bc.ca

The Congress

Day 1

Development Stories, Tools for Successful Collaboration

The first day of the conference started off with a welcome by John Metson, CHRA President, and was followed by a key note address by Charmaine Crooks. Charmaine is a five time Olympian and Olympic silver medallist, representing Canada for almost twenty years at athletics. She is also a member of the IOC, the Canadian Olympics Executive Board, on the board of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid Committee and a sports marketing promotion consultant. She set the scene for the day, talking us through the successful Vancouver Olympic bid and what she thought the benefits would be potentially for the city. Charmaine also gave an insight into her life as an athlete and her upbringing in a tough area of Toronto where she emigrated from the Caribbean.

Whilst the Olympic Bid Committee they thought they had a good bid for Vancouver and Whistler, they felt that they would be very fortunate to secure it with such hot competition. They were delighted to be successful and, as we saw later on in the programme, Vancouver is gearing up in many ways to meet the challenge and opportunity that the Olympics will present for the city and its residents.

Next followed a session on development stories - small cities with big plans. Four cities were represented by organisations presenting their activities. All the organisations had acquired a very high level of expertise and commitment and had had to go through numerous hoops to receive funding and support for their projects. They showed great dedication towards their projects which were for people with a low incomes or mental or physical disabilities.

Affordability and Choice Today, Best Practice in Collaborative Development:

This session was certainly one of the highlights of the day - the Reverend Harry Lehotsky of the New Life Ministries gave us an insight into the workings of a ministry in the inner city area of Winnipeg. Harry moved to Winnipeg after being ordained in 1982 in New York and he has been there ever since. He founded the New Life Ministries - an inner city church that he has been Pastor of for twenty years. He lives in the community and is a well known and respected community activist. He recently founded Lazarus Housing which successfully renovated over 100 units of inner city rental and ownership housing and a traditional transitional shelter. Harry gave a very entertaining and thought-provoking talk about his life and experiences in inner city Winnipeg and how, through the power of persuasion, marketing, pressure, public opinion, direct action, publicity and even threats, he has achieved an awful lot. By his and his team's actions, he has been able to rejuvenate an area of the inner city, changing the lives and environment of the people within the area. Some of his methods were extremely unorthodox but have achieved their objectives of moving on drug dealers, brothels, illegal gambling dens and so on.

Harry has become an example for people in the area and they have joined in his work to clean up the area where they live, to improve the education and employment opportunities for the children. His church and congregation have entirely changed the whole area from an undesirable to a desirable area, and that work is still going on.

In the afternoon, we had an opportunity to hear "One Story - Five Perspectives". Five people from different organisations gave their side of the Molehill regeneration area . This is an area adjacent to our hotel and St Paul's Hospital where traditional housing (late 1900 and early 2000 housing) had begun to be bought by the City and School Board with a view to redeveloping as a park and a school. This process started in 1950 but, by the 1970s and 80s, it had slowed down dramatically. Issues arose as to whether there was any point in proceeding. With the city only undertaking basic maintenance of the remaining properties and a number of the old buildings being "heritage buildings" (listed), no one had a clear picture as to what to do with the block. Finally, in 1996, the council decided to make the preservation and rehabilitation of the buildings as affordable housing its main objective. In 1999, the council gave approval in principle to BC Housing and the City to renovate 27 houses as non-market housing and, as a second project, to use another city owned house and vacant lot for the Dr Peter Centre. The Dr Peter Centre is a project to provide a new building to offer services to people with HIV and Aids. The renovation of all the old houses into apartments created a scheme of 170 homes at a density of 66 units per acre (163 per hectare) including communal gardens and mid block rights of way. Great care and attention was given to the renovation, particularly of the external appearance of the buildings, with very few with the same design and finish. To ensure that the residents of Molehill were fully involved in the project, the Molehill Community Housing Society was formed as a prime mover in the preservation of the buildings as low income housing. 44 of the 170 units are for families and the remainder are for single people. 40% of the units are rented at low/end of market rents and the rest have rents geared to income. The Molehill Community Housing Society manages and operates the scheme including selecting tenants.

We had an opportunity to visit the area and look at the Dr Peter Centre which is now up and running. It is the first of its kind in Canada, operating a day health programme and residence for people living with HIV and Aids. It has 225 people registered for day care and, on average, sees 90 people per day, plus its existing residents. The centre provides a unique model of health care to those struggling with deteriorating health. It is an inclusive place serving gay, straight and transgender women and men of all backgrounds coping with multiple illnesses and compromised abilities. The centre provides medically complex respite and palliative care. It has the advantage of reducing hospital stays and assisting the health care system to meet the growing need. The centre also offers individuals a home environment instead of a hospital. Some of the figures we were given on cost savings to the general health budgets of the area were extremely impressive.

The Dr Peter Centre is a 30,000 square foot building on four storeys, attached to an existing listed building. It also has 24 private studio suites with 24 hour care. The day care facility provides a health programme with nursing care, counselling and other therapies, meals, a living room and amenities such as showers and laundry.

Its latest, unorthodox innovation is that it has agreement to supervise the injecting of illegal drugs, to lessen risk of infection and contamination to addicts and to reduce calls on other healthcare agencies. Needless to say, it is being extremely closely monitored and the success or failure of this service is being closely evaluated.

So what have been the results and what impact has it had on the community in Vancouver? It has provided a housing environment rather than a nursing home, with leading edge care for people with HIV/Aids. The two programmes have a major impact on individual health status and hospital usage. The organisation has a potential to grow its capacity and to provide more comfort care. Dr Peter Centre has a website you may wish to view�www.drpeter.org

Day 2

The day started with a welcome from the President of the CHRA, John Metson. Next, David Baxter, Director of the Urban Futures Institute, gave a keynote address on how to renew Canada's cities, changing places, people and challenging policies. The main thrust of David's address was to highlight that in Canada, where 4 out of 5 people live in the cities, the population is becoming older. There are now more people over 65 than under 10 which has a direct impact on housing, land, transport and the sustainability of social services. In the cities, over 40% of detached homes have more bedrooms than people housed in them. He argued that if you were able to persuade home owners over the age of 55 to reduce their empty bedrooms by 70%, you could reduce demand for detached homes substantially. In turn this would decrease urban sprawl, transport infrastructure and create sustainable communities.

It was his contention that you had to make it attractive for the older population to move on and, at the same time, downsize. He put forward a number of ideas to make this possible - tax incentives, transferring the proceeds of sales to pension pots, mixing communities with a wider range of housing, so that people could move but remain within their local environment and community where they felt secure and at home. His presentation was full of ideas and positive proposals which could well have a relevance to the UK.

'Is Sustainable Development Compatible with Affordable Housing?'

This workshop looked at the relationship between sustainability and affordability in the context of land use and the built environment. It was a panel session using four locations within the Greater Vancouver Area that were intending to incorporate sustainability features into the design and construction of new developments. Some of the key points were:-

At the University of British Columbia, a complete new community is being built of 8 neighbourhoods with 7,000 residents, over 208 acres. The aim is to produce a complete diversity of tenures with substantial living and work accommodation - 20% rental and 10% non-market rental and the balance being for sale. The master planning will promote pedestrian, cycles and public transport. In South East False Creek, where there is land ownership between the city and private sector who are working together, there is an energy plan looking at waste and water management, urban agriculture and sustainable transportation. 20% of the new homes built will be for non-market housing and 35% will be designed for family accommodation. This is where the Olympics Village for 2010 will be, with over 550 units. 35% of units provided will be living or work accommodation for people if they meet the criteria, and they will be sold for 30% less than market value. In many of the units, there will be the opportunity to create secondary suites. Rental units will be let at 30% of income.

Below are some of the initiatives the developers of large strategic sites and the city are working to, in an endeavour to comply with the sustainable development criteria they have signed up to:

Reduce parking provision, particularly if the public transport system in the area is good - this can produce a saving of $15,000 per home.
Offer transit passes at a discount on an annual basis - this will cover all forms of public transport.
Establish car co-ops using the internet and providing car parking spaces in the city for co-op users. An apartment/house that had no car parking space or car could provide a saving equivalent to $100,000 mortgage.
For developers, there will be a density bonus for adopting greater sustainable options - the criteria are not dissimilar to our own HQIs.

One particularly interesting comment by a private developer was that they had been able to refine their building approach for taking a sustainable strategy, which had originally had cost an extra $10.00/sq.ft, to a figure between $2.00 and $3.00/sq.ft. He also said that they had been able to pick up an extra $2.00/sq.ft. from the customer by advising them of the longer term benefits of a sustainable approach which they, as a developer, had adopted.

The workshop held promise that adopting sustainable building practices lowers operating costs while greening the environment. The panel felt that this would allow developers to reach more market sectors and improve everyone's lifestyle.

On the second day, a housing forum was held to consider Affordable Housing Whose Responsibility is it Anyway? This was chaired by Joyce Potter, the new President of the CHRA, and moderated by Kevin Evans. It was made up of four key speakers from the housing and political world, and a dozen other participants who formed the Housing Forum, from very diverse sections of the social housing world and appropriate aid agencies in Canada.

Joyce Potter set the scene - the level of the crisis, the need for action and the issue of the responsibility of all levels: government, private developers and the community. Each key speaker was given a few minutes to explain their role and put forward their view on how and whose responsibility affordable housing was. Kevin facilitated a discussion forum with key policy makers and teased out answers and responses from the three levels of government represented within the forum. It was an interesting format with full participation from the audience as well. It was programmed for two hours which didn't seem to be quite long enough. With over 18 participants, it seemed to be a logistical nightmare, and it is a tribute to Kevin Evans that it seemed to work so well, with many people being able to present their views and elicit responses from the politicians who had been brave enough to attend.

A National Housing Symposium is to be held on 21 and 22 June 2004, so a workshop session was arranged to give delegates the opportunity to consider and have some input into the National Housing strategy. In Canada there is a serious concern that the country needs this strategy to address the needs of 1.5 million people who lack adequate shelter. The wish that Canadians should have access to safe, decent affordable housing is considered to be one of this decade's most pressing social policy priorities. It appears to have a uniformity of opinion from all political parties, housing advocates and boards of trade. CHRA are promoting the conference to assist in mapping out of the future of affordable housing policy in Canada and to ensure that there is a renewed national commitment to housing that is sustainable, flexible and learns from the lessons of the previous programmes. Considering the importance of the topic, this was a poorly attended session. Steve Pomeroy gave an overview of the framework that currently exists for Canada's housing system, invited delegates to discuss the parts of the current system which need amendment and to put forward a new, stronger strategy. The session seemed to lose its way. Several provinces appeared to be happy with the status quo because they were achieving quite a lot. Others recognised deficiencies and faults, and wanted to put forward change. The role of the CMHC as some form of funding body was also brought into question and I am sure that, in his report back to the CHRA, Steve will have a number of observations and suggestions to make. Steve is also well aware of how affordable housing needs and demands are met in other countries.

Day 3

This day started off with a media plenary: "Why isn't Housing on the Public Agenda". The response from the team of media panellists was quite clear and not any great surprise to us from the UK. Radio, television and media representatives said it isn't because the public don't want it there. I think one appreciates that this is in the city of Vancouver where last year there were ten tent cities in public parks and a huge squat in one of its downtown buildings. When there was a phone-in on the subject, it generated virtually no calls at all. Journalists find it difficult to promote social issues such as homelessness with such a strong competition for space and time, and tend to respond with the most visual high profile stories of the day. This often means that deserving social issues stories are bumped. One of the panellists thought that the general public's general lack of interest in housing could well be attributed to the fact that there is no quick fix, no dramatic ribbon cutting, no ceremony, so what's new? There was also a suggestion that one of the key problems with the media's inability to address the issue of housing and homelessness is the lack of good information about the size, scope and complexity of the problem. He pointed out that working with academic social housing advocates, support works and bureaucrats, his paper the Vancouver Sun had researched the issue and produced a seven part series. To produce the series, two reporters were entered into the field for four weeks. Their conclusions were that Vancouver didn't just have a homelessness problem, but there are a lot of different problems and solutions, and that the whole situation of deprivation needed to be looked at holistically.

Next followed a workshop session entitled "Using Housing to Build Inclusive, Competitive Cities". One of the speakers in this session was Ibo Balton, Director Division of Neighbourhood Planning for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) of New York City. HPD is the largest municipal housing agency in the US. So far it has provided $5.6 billion to construct, repair and rehabilitate housing. It works with public, private and community partners and aims to strengthen neighbourhoods and allow more New Yorkers to become house owners or rent decent housing.

His talk was concentrated on the successful turn round in the Harlem neighbourhood of New York.

What were the issues?

Increased population placed huge demands on existing housing.
1. Overcrowding
2. Deteriorations in community housing resources
3. Widespread poverty and despair
The abandonment of private property because people, land owners, landlords were unable to maintain them and these were often set on fire.
Urban blight.

Solutions:

A ten year plan was proposed and this included a number of key issues.

A revitalisation plan.
1. Tapping into local talent to establish a rapport with the community.
2. Use public policy and planning initiatives to eliminate blight and restore stability.
Realised a hands-on approach to community planning was needed
1. Established a Neighbourhood Preservation Office.
2. Carried out an ownership and condition audit of every property and land parcel.
3. Developed relationships with community partners.
4. Arranged many local community meetings.

The strategy:

Targeted multiple blighted areas for simultaneous redevelopment for a mix of incomes.
Re-habilitated vacant and occupied buildings.
Physically and economically integrated low income tenants back into neighbourhoods.
Encouraged mixing current families to move into the community, thereby stabilising the neighbourhood.

In the Bradhurst Community, 42 sites were identified for development, including thousands of houses, 200,000 sq.ft. of commercial/retail space, two public parks and two community facilities. Home ownership was encouraged through a range of initiatives and incentives and commercial corridors were identified and promoted. So what has been achieved to date?

23,000 homes have been created
New partnerships have been established with local community groups.
Home Ownership has increased by 3% over the last six years.
Average income has risen by over 14%.
Created ethnic and economic mix of neighbourhood

So what lessons were learned for a successful neighbourhood regeneration?

Work with local community groups, elected officials, current residents, non-profit and for profit groups.
Strategic use of communities' natural assets, e.g. historic areas, high quality existing housing stock etc.
Open communication with neighbourhood residents.
Use locally based knowledge and resources
Targeted redevelopment of blighted properties

HPD has a very good website for you to read more about their success - www.nyc.gov/hpd

The final part of the Congress programme worthy of noting was the New Communities tour.

This was a bus and walking tour of four new communities which have been established, or are being established, by the City of Vancouver and the private sector. Our first visit was to the South East False Creek area of the city, the site for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. It is on the south side of Vancouver. 50 acres are city owned with another 30 acres in private ownership and the two owners are working together. An official development plan has been produced which for the development of the city owned site, which was formally industrial land. The goal is for it to be a model of sustainable mixed use community and a major water front park with opportunities for a range of household types and affordability. A network of paths and streets which promote walking, cycling and other non-motorised modes of transport will also be provided. Goods and services will be within walking distance, including community and child care facilities. Buildings will be constructed to reduce energy use, create less waste and be healthier for occupants. During 2003 the City of Vancouver held a series of public events to make as many people as possible aware of their proposals for South East False Creek. The purpose was to give everyone the opportunity to learn more about the proposal and give their comments, views and observations. Some of the key issues are:-

" There are some heritage opportunities within the industrial land, namely an old Salt Barn which is to be moved 300m and form part of the community/village centre. The proposed density is initially for 3,000 athletes with parking and then to be further developed for more than 13,000 people. There will be a cost share with the private sector with $30m one-off grant to ensure that 26 of the cities 50 acres will be used to provide homes for local residents. The water front park will be a natural, rather than manicured, space and will incorporate a diverse environment with many types of habitat including a naturalised shoreline. It will be a place for community activities and different athletic uses.

" Within the consultation, many residents were strongly in support of the green fingers principal - landscaped streets which run north to south, connecting the site to surrounding neighbourhoods. They will have a reduced surface area that is more amenable to large trees and there will be plenty of green planting. Storm water will be collected off the streets and fed into ponds in the water front park. Full streets will then seem part of the design to encourage walking and a non-motorised travel. A range of public amenities are to be included as well as the water park. There will also be non-market and family housing, a school, day care facility and community meeting space.

" The location of the site, on the water front in South Vancouver, will give the new development the opportunity to make innovative use of water throughout the scheme. The plan calls for a water management system that provides storm water collection on site and in the uplands area. The water will be cleaned through wetland features before entering the False Creek. Rainwater will be collected for irrigation and the overall goal is to minimise the use of potable water for outdoor landscape and gardening.

" After the Winter Olympics in 2010, the apartments and town houses used by athletes and coaches will be sold or rented to the public. The city will use the Village area to meets its non-market housing commitment. The development will provide approximately a quarter of the total residential space proposed for South East False Creek.

Our second visit was to Concord Pacific Place. Here, 148 acres of downtown Vancouver is being developed with a mix of high rise towers, town houses, commercial space and parks. Already 3,500 housing homes have been built and 2,000 are under construction or approved. There is potential for another 3,000. This was the site for Expo '86. The original master plan identified six individual neighbourhoods. Four have now been effectively completed with over 3,500 units built on 39 acres. It also includes an 8 acre and 4.3 acre park and a shoreline walkway. Within this total of 3,500 there are 326 units of non-market housing (social housing), two childcare facilities, a new marina, some commercial space and a round house community centre with an elementary school due to open in 2004. Because of the size of the scheme, the developers have been able to arrange mortgage packages with the RBC Royal Bank who have a team of mortgage experts on site. They basically offer two forms of mortgage - closed mortgages and open mortgages. An open mortgage allows the flexibility to pay off some or the entire mortgage at any time without penalty, whilst a closed mortgage won't give you that facility, but it generally offers a lower interest rate than other mortgage. Mortgage rates are either fixed, variable or rate capped. Fixed rate offers the security of locking in your interest rate for the term of the mortgage, enabling people to budget for their commitment of the mortgage during whatever term they select. A variable rate mortgage can fix the payment for up to two years, but the interest rate will fluctuate as the bank's prime rate changes. Monthly payments remain the same but the portion of payment that applies to reducing principal can vary. RBC has introduced what they believe to be an innovative mortgage - the rate capper. It is a variable rate mortgage will a built-in safety net. The rate capper establishes a "maximum" rate for a five year term. If the mortgage goes up beyond their maximum, the mortgagee is protected. If rates go down, your rates go down just as it would with a variable rate mortgage. As this is a different approach to that adopted in the UK, I think it's worth including in this report.

We then visited Seymour Place, Seymour Street, Vancouver. This is a good example of the partnership approach used to create new subsidised housing the Canadian way. The partnership has created a community solution to housing problems and maximised the value of the resources. Seymour Place has 135 self-contained units including 117 studio units, 8 wheelchair accessible units and 10 one bedroom suites for individuals at risk of homelessness. Nearly half the units are available for people with HIV/Aids or mental illness. The centre includes a drop-in facility for people with mild mental illness and a large amenity area on the ground, second and twelfth floors. A Mental Health Support Worker provides services to 30 tenants. An additional 20 tenants, who require mental health support, also use the community services and activities at the centre on a regular basis. The Coast Foundation, who manage the scheme, also provide basic services such as 150+ meals per day, laundry, showers, community kitchen programme, sewing, landscaping school, social activities and a member-run store. Also available for residents are an Art Studios Programme, computer rooms, health and wellness groups, dual diagnosis groups and supports.

The Coast Foundation also has two supported housing outreach workers and provides support to two acute care hospitals to help transition of people from hospital to the community. Seymour Place is a multi partnership between the Affordable Housing Societies, City of Vancouver, BC Housing (a housing association), the Health Authorities, the Coast Foundation and McLaren Housing Society. As well as providing a warm meal facility for homeless people, it also provides training and employment opportunities for its clients through its hydroponics garden and landscaping business. The landscaping school makes a substantial profit which helps to finance the centre operations.

Our final visit was to the Molehill Conservation Area. This is an area which we had visited on our first day because the Dr Peter Centre forms part of this regeneration area. Molehill was a group of heritage homes which over a period of time were converted into a 127 units of social housing and day care.

Conclusion

The conference was well attended with over 300 delegates from all over Canada plus visitors from South Africa and the US, as well as ourselves.

The programme was excellent and, on the whole, all the speakers were of a very high quality. The content of many of the workshops and keynote speeches had a particular relevance to the housing scene in the UK. One of the most striking features of the conference was the delegates themselves, who have a great commitment to the provision of homes for people in need, of solving the great problem in Canada of homelessness and of raising the general public's awareness. Only very recently has the government realised the significance of the growing problem of homelessness. This may well be because of the way that the cities h are now almost political entities in their own right. The power of the elected mayors in the large cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Winnipeg, Vancouver can now make many key decisions on funding for themselves, and also exert great pressure on the government for change. There is an excellent website if you are interested in finding out more about the CHRA and the Canadian social housing scene. The CHRA's website - www.chra-achru.ca also has a section on this year's annual congress and you should find quite comprehensive reports on all the sessions.

Next year's congress will be in Montreal at the end of April. It has been suggested that the CIH (South East) might like to arrange a small group to attend this conference and then spend some time looking at housing in Quebec province and Montreal ,in particular. If you are interested, please let me know by email cmoquet@calfordseaden.co.uk

Chris Moquet