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A powerful new residential rental zoning introduced to address B.C.’s housing crisis is mostly gathering dust more than a year after being introduced by the provincial government.

New Westminster was the first to implement Residential Rental Tenure Zoning (RRTZ) to protect existing rental units and was immediately stung with a lawsuit by the owners of six buildings inside the new zone. The decision in that trial has not been delivered.

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Uptake by cities has been slow because where the new zoning has been used, it was used improperly and led to litigation, said Anne McMullin, CEO of the Urban Development Institute.

By designating strata-titled buildings as rental only, that New Westminster neighbourhood was effectively “down-zoned,” which reduces the value of those properties and will interfere with the owners’ ability to finance redevelopment and renovations, she said.

Richmond delayed a similar proposal to rezone up to 60 existing buildings to prevent rental conversions and ordered a period of consultation with a report back due in 2020.