The West End of Vancouver is a prime example of an area of single-family homes that has been turned into a high-density neighbourhood that is still desirable and liveable, veteran developer Michael Audain told a packed ballroom at the Hyatt Regency on June 11 – adding the City needs to carry out much more of this kind of urban change.
The chairman of Polygon Homes was speaking at the Urban Development Institute (UDI) BC chapter lunch entitled “The Legends” – a panel event that charted the successful real estate development careers of Audain, Nat Bosa of Bosa Properties and David Podmore of Concert Properties.
Audain was the only panel member to speak out against the City of Vancouver and its part in what he sees as the slow pace of housing development in the city.
He said, “We should recognize that even since the 1960s, we’ve always had high housing prices. The housing affordability crisis is not new, and it’s not going to go away – but the supply just hasn’t kept up. Unfortunately some cities are not taking their fair share of growth in supply.
“The West End used to be almost all single-family homes with a few low-rise apartments, then in the 1960s – wow, the whole place sprouted up and became a fairly high-density community. But so what? It’s a different community than what it was, but it’s still a beautiful community and people love living there.
“We do need to densify – we can’t freeze communities and neighbourhoods forever, there’s too much demand for housing. And if we just push further people out of central areas then we have to spend much more on transport infrastructure.
He concluded, “I really don’t think our municipal officials are sizing up to the challenge, because each small city wants to defend its own turf. But there’s a regional need for lot more housing to become available, and until that happens, real estate prices will keep rising and we’ll be complaining about exactly what we’re complaining about today for another 20, 30 years.”
David Podmore of Concert Properties responded that his company sees many existing and untapped development opportunities in Vancouver, with his company having 7,000 units in the pipeline in North Vancouver’s waterfront, False Creek and in Coquitlam near the station.
