Practical & Affordable Workforce Housing
At Saturday's all-candidates meeting, several of us talked about the need for more essential and workforce housing in North Vancouver.
The City has several tools to help. One of the most important is City-owned land.
The remaining Harry Jerome lands give us a real opportunity to use that tool.
My proposal for the Harry Jerome Lands
Keep the land in City ownership.
Use long-term market leases on most of the site to help repay the City’s $109 million recreation centre loan.
And reserve one appropriately sized parcel for at least 150 permanently affordable workforce rental homes.
Those homes could prioritize people who work in our community, including:
Nurses and healthcare workers
Teachers and school staff
Firefighters and first responders
Municipal and other essential workers
The exact number of homes and affordability levels should depend on an updated land valuation and a proper business case. But I believe this option should be tested before the remaining lands are committed.
We have models to learn from
Whistler
Whistler has spent decades building housing specifically for people who work in the community.
Its employee-restricted housing system now includes thousands of rental and ownership homes, with rules designed to keep those homes connected to the local workforce over the long term.
North Vancouver is different from Whistler, but the lesson is useful: public land can create housing that stays affordable and serves the community for generations.
Kiwanis Village West
We also have an example much closer to home.
West Vancouver split a City-owned site at 2195 Gordon Avenue.
One portion was leased at market value for $22.195 million.
Another portion was leased to Kiwanis North Shore Housing Society for $1 over 60 years and became Kiwanis Village West, with 156 below-market rental homes.
One property. Two purposes.
That’s the kind of approach I think North Vancouver should examine.
The financial side matters
The Harry Jerome lands are part of the financing strategy for the new recreation centre.
The City has a $109 million MFA loan, and proceeds from the remaining lands are expected to help repay it. My campaign has consistently called for clear public scrutiny of that financing strategy.
That means any workforce housing proposal needs to show the trade-off clearly.
I would ask City staff to bring forward:
An updated independent valuation of the remaining land
A long-term lease scenario for the market parcels
A workforce housing option for one parcel
Potential partnerships with non-profits, BC Housing, BC Builds and CMHC
Clear affordability and eligibility rules
The impact on repayment of the recreation centre debt
Residents should be able to see the numbers before Council makes a decision.
A chance to create something lasting
Essential-worker housing is already part of my housing platform. I believe the City should move from talking about it as a priority to identifying specific places where we can actually build it.
The Harry Jerome lands are one of those places.
Pay down the debt. Keep the land. And use part of it to create a permanent housing legacy for the people who help North Vancouver work.
That’s an option worth putting on the table.
