MAYOR’S TASK FORCE ON COMMUNITY HOUSING MEETING

MINUTES

An Open meeting of the Mayor’s Task Force on Community Housing was held in Rooms 104 and 211, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 6450 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, B.C. on Thursday, 2019 March 14 at 4:00 p.m.

1.

CALL TO ORDER

PRESENT:

ABSENT:

CIVIC

ENGAGEMENT:

Councillor Pietro Calendino, Chair

His Worship, Mayor Mike Hurley, Vice Chair

Councillor Joe Keithley, Member

Councillor James Wang, Member

Mr. Thom Armstrong, Member

Mr. Mike Bosa, Member

Mr. Patrick Buchannon, Member

Ms. Lois Budd, Member (arrived at 4:20 p.m.)

Mr. Paul Holden, Member

Mr. Beau Jarvis, Member

Dr. Paul Kershaw, Member

Mr. Brian McCauley, Member

Ms. Anne McMullin, Member

Mr. Murray Martin, Member

Ms. Kari Michaels, Member

Ms. Claire Preston, Member

Mr. Daniel Tetrault, Member

Councillor Sav Dhaliwal, Member

Ms. Shauna Sylvester, Centre for Dialogue

Ms. Michelle Bested, Centre for Dialogue

STAFF:

Mr. Lambert Chu, City Manager

Mr. Dipak Dattani, Director Corporate Service

  Mr. Ed Kozak, Deputy Director Planning and Building

  Ms. Lee-Ann Garnett, Asst. Director – Long Range Planning

  Ms. Lily Ford, Planner – Housing

  Mr. David Clutton, Long Range Planner

Ms. Margaret Eberle, Housing Consultant

Mr. Jim Wolf, Senior Long Range Planner

Ms. Carla Schuk, Social Planner

Ms. Kate O’Connell, City Clerk

Ms. Eva Prior, Administrative Officer

The Chair called the Open Task Force meeting to order at 4:02 p.m.

The Chair acknowledged the unceded, traditional, and ancestral lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking people, and extended appreciation for the opportunity to hold a meeting on this shared Coast Salish territory.

2.

MINUTES

MOVED BY Councillor James wang

Seconded by mR. paul Holden

THAT the minutes of the Mayor’s Task Force on Community Housing Open meeting held on 2019 February 27 be adopted.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

5.

REVIEW OF AGENDA

a)

Logistics

Facilitator: Ms. Shauna Sylvester, Executive Director,

                   Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University

Ms. Sylvester outlined the agenda for the evening.  The speaker introduced staff in attendance and extended her appreciation for the work and commitment by the Task Force members and staff.

Ms. Sylvester requested that Task Force members bring forward one compelling question or comment based on the first meeting of the Task Force and readings that were circulated prior to the 2019 March 14 meeting.  The following are responses from the members:

·         Reading materials and information presented in the first meeting were a useful exercise in understanding where we are now and where we came from.

·         Requested clarification regarding the response provided by City staff to the following question: ‘How many rental/units/homes are in Burnaby’s development approval process?’

o   Requested staff identify any loss of rental housing resulting from rezoning and development

o   Questioned why developments that have not yet been approved are included in the rental unit numbers.

·         Surprised at the low number of town/row homes and the obvious gap in this type of housing.

·         Queried if any of the $660 million generated through the density bonus program has been spent and why only 20% is allocated to the Community Benefit Bonus Housing Fund?

·         No single solution, but instead a comprehensive plan.  The committee will take six months to develop the strategy but people are waiting now. Is it possible to develop some preliminary plans to guide staff while this process is underway?

·         How much is in the Community Benefit Bonus Housing Fund and how much has been spent?

·         Will this Task Force recommend ways of using the Community Benefit Bonus Housing Fund in an economic and manageable way to provide sufficient affordable housing?

·         Burnaby is suffering the same challenges as other cities, outdated housing policies, limited supply which is contributing to rising prices. Outdated taxation policies by other levels of government have also impacted demand and prices.

·         How many purpose built rentals are in the Metrotown area?  How was the number determined?

·         Requested clarification regarding Community Amenity Contributions versus a Community Benefit Bonus Policy. How do the funds collected by Burnaby compare to other municipalities?

·         Connection between housing and planning – when we get to the point of making recommendations, to what extent will the recommendations be limited by existing zoning?  How proactive are we going to be to ensure that the recommendations can be implemented without delay due to existing zoning?

·         Do we understand the fundamentals of building and operating rental apartment buildings, both nonprofit and market rental?  It is very important we understand this.  We should almost be doing a ‘rental 101’.

*Lois Budd arrived at the meeting at 4:20*

·         Queried why projects that have not been approved are included in the inventory of 51 new housing projects listed in the City’s fact sheet.

·         Burnaby is not alone; other municipalities are also faced with the same challenges. Private sector is not the enemy; it is possible to work together.  Housing needs to be done at scale and we need to with other levels of government.

·         In reference to Responses to Questions from Meeting #1, page 3: When proposed developments are discussed, such as 4475 Grange; could you also cite if there are currently occupied homes?  Could you put a footnote or sentence acknowledging the number of rentals and the current rents, if known?

·         In reference to Responses to Questions from Meeting #1, page 4: 6,101 is the listed number of purpose built rentals since Burnaby gave a number of 2,992 in the same area.  If we could get a list of buildings with number of units in the area to confirm this would be helpful.

·         In reference to Responses to Questions from Meeting #1, page 4: Could we have addresses of the three purpose built rentals under construction?

·         How many purpose built rentals have been built by decade (units included) and list of buildings by address?

·         Non market housing – could we get the numbers of what non market rental means?

Staff will undertake to respond to the questions raised.

b)

Opening Round

Facilitator: Ms. Shauna Sylvester, Executive Director,

 Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University

Ms. Sylvester reviewed the Draft Process Diagram which outlined the approach, topics, learning and outcomes that will take place throughout the course of the Task Force.

The Draft Process Diagram provided Task Force members with meeting and Community Workshops dates, meeting themes and outputs.  The Task Force will work towards finalizing an interim report (quick starts) to Council for May, with a final report (long-term recommendations, implementation plan) in July of 2019.

The speaker queried if the Task Force members would be interested in participating in site visits of examples of community housing.  As most members indicated their interest in site visits, the speaker advised she would look into the opportunity.

6.

SESSION 1 - HISTORICAL TIMELINE

Burnaby’s Housing Historical Timeline was posted in the meeting room outlining events, policies and actors that have impacted housing in Burnaby.

Task Force members were requested to identify and add events, policies and actors that shaped their perspective of Burnaby. The timeline was broken down into periods ranging from pre-contact to present and the Task Force members discussed the impact of the various events, policies and actors on housing in Burnaby.

MOVED BY MS. KARI MICHAELS

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR JAMES WANG

THAT the Open Task Force meeting recess for 5 minutes and reconvene in Room 211.

                                                                                                CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Open Task Force meeting recessed at 5:28 p.m.

MOVED BY MS. CLAIRE PRESTON

SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR JOE KEITHLEY  

THAT the Open Task Force meeting do now reconvene.

                                                                                                CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Open Task Force meeting reconvened at 5:39 p.m. in Room 211.

7.

SESSION 2 – ASSETS MAPPING

MOVED BY Ms. CLAIRE PRESTON

Seconded by COUNCILLOR JOE KEITHLEY

THAT the Open Task Force meeting recess until 6:45 p.m.

                                                                                          CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

8.

SESSION 3 – SMALL GROUP INFORMATION SALONS

9.

NEXT STEPS

Ms. Shauna Sylvester advised that the next meeting would involve generating ideas for “quick starts” by drawing on information from the completed online Housing Ideas Survey, input from the Community Ideas Workshop, information from other jurisdictions and thought leaders.

The speaker distributed the following reading materials to the Task Force to be reviewed prior to the next meeting:

o   Innovative Ideas for Burnaby Mayor’s Task Force on Community Housing – Margaret Eberle

o   Briefing for Mayor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing – City of Burnaby – Kira Gerwing, Vancity

o   Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the National Housing Strategy (NHS) – Lance Jakubec, CMHC

o   Some Thoughts for the Burnaby Affordable Housing Task Force – Michael Geller

o   Note for Burnaby Affordable Housing Task Force – Robert Brown, Catalyst Community Development Society

10.

CLOSING ROUND

Ms. Shauna Sylvester requested that Task Force members verbalize their thoughts on the meeting.  Task Force member’s comments were as follows: 

·         Learning other people’s perspective and about other people’s ideas.

·         Different perspectives, profit, non-profit.

·         Sharing.

·         Openness and willingness to contribute from different perspectives.

·         More alignment and open mindedness, open to new ideas.

·         Liked the salon model and the opportunity to get more in depth conversations.

·         The opportunity to dig down, but would like more time.

·         Salon format was great, allowed more time for the discussion.

·         Like the salon, but not the wall exercise, improve presentation.

·         Appreciated the salon format with small groups, learned more about zoning, what you can and can’t do.

·         Salon format was great, and appreciated access to city staff and to hear their perspective.

·         Integration of staff with task force, enjoyed the small group conversation, did not like the one comment, one question.

·         Investigating other people’s perspectives.

·         Salon was productive, hear other people’s perspectives, housing provider verses housing occupier; symbiotic relationship; common ground is necessary.

·         Appreciate having staff contribute to the conversation.

·         Concerned about members becoming too positional.

·         Like the format, but would appreciate more advanced notice of the topics so members can come better prepared.

·         Staff perspectives:

o   Exciting to hear different people’s views, everyone brings different ideas and perspective;

o   Interesting ideas and initiatives being brought forward;

o   Opportunity to sit with the community outside of the office thereby removing the barriers that staff sometimes feel they work within; and  

o   Felt like part of continuum and involved in a historical process.

11.

SUMMARY

Councillor Calendino advised that staff will respond to questions raised at the beginning of the meeting.  The speaker requested that staff investigate the possibility of a document sharing site to allow members of the Task Force to share information, and that staff provide an updated version of the timeline to include comments from the Task Force.

Staff will undertake to respond to all requests.

12.

ADJOURNMENT

MOVED BY Mayor mike hurley

Seconded by councillor Joe Keithley

THAT this Open Task Force meeting do now adjourn.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The Open Committee meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

________________________

________________________

Councillor Pietro Calendino

CHAIR

Kate O’Connell

City Clerk