While I was busy with volunteer work, and Darren was down in Little Mountain, an open house was held for 708-796 Renfrew Street . The developer’s plan is to replace the block’s single family homes, each one valued at about 1.5 million dollars, with a 6 story rental building that will provide 77 rental homes. However, as it is located on a hill, the building will appear to be only 5 stories tall when viewed from Renfrew. If Darren or I had been thinking about the surrounding single family homes, we would have realized this project would end up really needing public support.

While we were unable to attend, we have heard reports that the event held at the Hastings Community Centre was packed with people. Those in attendance were mostly existing home owners complaining of lost views, greedy developers, and the traffic that these new homes would bring. There were also contradicting viewpoints, where individuals would criticize the rental housing as being unaffordable, only to turn around and complain that the new rental housing would bring criminals to the neighbourhood.

What these comments illustrate is that those who weren’t fortunate enough to enter the housing market 20 years ago had too small a presence to contribute to the discussion. Unfortunately, when these voices are missing, they are often left to suffer the consequences. When Darren looked at last Wednesday’s UDP agenda, he noticed this building, along with its 77 rental homes had been pulled from the agenda. While I knew immediately what this meant, Darren felt we had to make sure before we came to a conclusion.

Having spoken with multiple sources, we can now confirm these rentals have not only been delayed because of this backlash, but many will end up not being built at all. City staff have no choice but to respond to the public’s demands as they are civil servants and, in this case, the overwhelming majority of voices wanted less homes and less families for this neighbourhood. As a result, it is all but guaranteed that at least one floor, which would have provided 14 rental homes, will now be eliminated. An even worse outcome is that this building could be limited to only 3 or 4 stories, like a recent proposal we covered at Arbutus and 35th . If that were to happen, it would result in a total loss of almost 45 rental homes.

There’s still time to prevent that outcome, so if you want more housing options in Hastings Sunrise, more families for the nearby empty schools, or even if you just disagree with the assertion that renters are criminals, than make sure city staff hears your opinion here