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The city’s Rental 100 program offers development-cost-levy waivers and other incentives in return for 100-per-cent rental buildings. The program produces “market rental” units that achieve affordability “primarily through tenure, since renting is inherently less expensive than owning,” according to the city.

David Hutniak, the chief executive officer of Landlord B.C., said his group was “very disappointed” that councillors were contemplating cutting the Rental 100 program.

“It would be a huge disappointment. It was responsible for some new purpose-built rentals that we desperately need,” Hutniak said. “If anything that program should be enhanced, not eliminated.”

Hutniak said the generally held belief in the development industry is that market rentals built today will be affordable rentals in eight to 10 years time or less, depending on how much else is built. He also pointed to Seattle, where thousands of new rental units have been built over the last several years and where vacancy rates have soared.

“That’s where we need to be and we need help to get there,” Hutniak said.

Meanwhile, Green party Coun. Pete Fry has taken the stance that he won’t vote any longer in favour of affordable rental development proposals that would better be described as “market-subsidy” rentals.

“We’re starting to get frustrated,” Fry said. “(Developers) come to us with these proposals, in which the rents are widely out of sync with local incomes and they’re driving up the market in neighbourhoods that already have fragile housing stock, and we’re kind of obliged to vote for (them) because they did play by the rules.”