Burnaby’s mayor defended the renovictions and demovictions happening in the city on Wednesday.

At a public art unveiling at Boffo Developments’ Modello tower in Metrotown, Mayor Derek Corrigan stood firm on his stance that in order to accommodate the thousands of people moving into the Lower Mainland every year, highrise condo towers are needed – even though that could mean displacing renters.

article continues below

“In this neighbourhood, we found that there is a significant number of people who feel they shouldn’t have to move out of this area, that we should retain it as it is,” he said. “That, unfortunately, is just not the solution. If we’re going to look at utilizing our transit system properly, we have to increase density around it and give more people the opportunity to live close to transit.”

While Corrigan admits there aren’t many “Band-Aid solutions” to the unaffordability issue, he pointed to the city’s density bonus program, where developers pay into a fund that supports affordable housing.

“We’re buying properties in other areas of the city (and) providing those to not-for-profits in order to give opportunities for social or not-for-profit housing, but it’s a very difficult thing to do without the support from the federal and provincial government that will allow us to be more aggressive in making that happen,” he said.

In late 2015, city council approved the first two-owned city properties for the program (7898 Eighteenth Ave. and 3802 Hastings St.), and in March of this year, applications made by SUCCESS and New Vista Society for a combined 200 new non-market housing units were approved.

With the land around the SkyTrain being “the most valuable” in the city, the mayor said it’s important to take advantage of it.

“If we can utilize this land to generate moneys that we can put into land that is outside these key areas, we’re more likely to be able to effectively build the kind of not-for-profit housing we need,” he said.

Meanwhile, expecting to pay $400 a month in rent is unrealistic in a hot housing market like Burnaby’s, added Corrigan.

“Either you’re going to go through renovations of those buildings in which people are going to be renovicted, as they move to repair the buildings, or alternatively, you’re going to be looking at projects that deal with more density in which the buildings are torn down. Those are the realities.”

The Metrotown development plan update, meant to create Burnaby’s “true downtown,” will come before council next month for adoption.