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LUNAR NEW YEAR: A Tamil performance for Lunar New Year was held on the stage at the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre on Sunday in Burnaby.
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Councillor says ‘affordable’ rents aren’t really affordable Kelvin Gawley
editorial@burnabynow.com
A Burnaby councillor failed in a last-ditch effort to bring down rents at an “affordable” housing project where tenants will need an income of $85,000 to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Coun. Colleen Jordan introduced a motion that would have seen city staff study the possibility of providing a subsidy to reduce rents at a 125-unit non-
market building currently under construction on Sussex Avenue in the Metrotown neighbourhood. The city has partnered to build the 14-storey apartment building with BC Housing and developer Thind Properties, which is also building a 47-storey tower on the adjacent lot with office space and 324 market condominiums. The partnership was “a huge leap forward for us” in 2016, Jordan said.
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But now, more than three years later, with more housing projects announced and funded under the new provincial NDP government, she said the deal isn’t looking as sweet. At a groundbreaking ceremony in April 2019, the province revealed the project’s estimated rents: ! Studio: $886/month ! One-bedroom: $1,336/ month ! Two-bedroom: $2,132/ month
! Three-bedroom: $2,503/ month Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation considers housing to be affordable if it costs less than 30% of a household’s before-tax income. Using that metric, a single parent would need an $85,000 salary to afford a two-bedroom unit. Those rents are far too high and the city should consider providing “some additional help” to bring them down, Jordan said.
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“Those rents will stay there forever if we don’t put some additional money into it,” she said, noting the money could come from the city’s $127-million housing fund. But the motion failed, with only two of Jordan’s nine council colleagues supporting it – councillors Dan Johnston and Paul McDonell. Coun. Pietro Calendino said he believed Jordan’s motion was “well intentioned” but said the city
had already contributed a “good chunk” of money to the project – the equivalent of $7 million. He said the city should take a more comprehensive approach to creating affordable housing rather than injecting money into a project that’s already underway. “This project was signed almost two years ago; it’s moving along, and there’s no need to reawaken it and redo things,” he said.
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