Two reasons STIR is wrong for the West End

www.westendneighbours.caTown Hall Meeting, Coast Plaza Hotel, Comox Street, April 22, 2010

Two questions. Will STIR…

1) … lower rents in the WE?

• Size of increase in supply?

• Price sensitive buyers?

5) … put City’s fiscal future in jeopardy by subsidizing developers?

Is large decline in rents likely? NO!

• Currently under 500 new rental units, or under 2.2% of available rentals: NEGLIGIBLE

• Buyers price sensitive: a lot of their income spent on rent and there are good alternative locations (Yaletown, along Canada Line)

In summary…

• Small increase in supply is unlikely push rents down a lot

• Even a small reduction in rents would cause many renters from alternative locations to come to WE, preventing further reductions

Subsidies to developers: TENS OF MILLIONS OF $

• Foregone development revenue (cost levies and amenity contributions)

• The city needs this revenue from new development to fund broader infrastructure improvements associated with increased loads on municipal services.

Don’t fall for this one

• Developer’s argument: but market rentals ARE amenities

• A bit like saying a for-profit rent-a-car company represents public transportation

Impending fiscal crisis?

• At times of high deficits ($50 million), City itself recognizes:

“historically low development revenue”

as one of the causes of budget shortfall.

• STIR means foregoing more development revenue on an unprecedented scale.

Above all…

CITY SUBSIDIZES THE DEVELOPER, BUT THE

DEVELOPER DOES NOT SUBSIDIZE THE RENTER.

Sources:

• For City finances:

http://vancouver.ca/fs/budgetServices/operatingBudget/pdf/City2010Budget-presentation.pdf

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/census/2006/localareas/westend.pdf

• For rental statistics:

Above all…

• All the sources for STIR are too numerous to cite, but a good place to start is:http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/developmentservices/stir/index.htm

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/cityplans/fg/index.htm

• Specifically, on levies and contributions: