Latest News

Mayor Brodie at the gardens for the residents at the Kiwanis Affordable Seniors housing complex, across from Richmond Centre in downtown Richmond.

Photo courtesy City of Richmond

Density and affordability

By Mayor Malcolm Brodie

Published 2:11 PDT, Fri July 22, 2022

Last Updated: 2:39 PDT, Fri July 22, 2022

—

Richmond has always been a great place to call home. Residents and visitors find excellent amenities and infrastructure, wonderful parks and abundant outdoor recreation options in addition to interesting tourism destinations such as Steveston Village and Britannia Heritage Shipyards. It’s a great place to live, work and visit.

Yet, like all communities, Richmond wrestles with issues of affordability. The current rate of inflation is the highest in recent memory; gas prices are out of sight; post-pandemic tourism has yet to recover while many costs are increasing due to supply chain pressures.

Finding affordable, appropriate housing remains a critical challenge. It will be a major focus of the upcoming review of Richmond’s Official Community Plan (OCP). The City will develop a path for the community to grow with a range of housing options, amenities and infrastructure.

For decades, Richmond’s OCP has provided for added density, especially in the City Centre and along arterial roads. Multi-family developments throughout the City help to create more cost-effective, resilient, and sustainable communities featuring efficiencies in construction and infrastructure.

To address affordability, one of Richmond’s current needs is more rental housing. Under the longstanding Affordable Housing Strategy and other initiatives such as Rental Tenure zoning, Richmond has been on the forefront in enabling various types of rental housing units to be planned and built. The City has invested in many approaches, whether it be in the form of low-end market rental, market rentals, non-market housing, rental tenure zoning, secondary suites and coach houses among others. To house those who have no home, the City has invested in emergency shelter spaces and supportive housing.

Low vacancy rates make the search for rental housing a particular challenge. As Richmond is a leader in working with the development community to provide affordable housing for large complexes, Council now requires 15% of the units for Low End Market Rental units and 15% for Market Rental.

Generally, the provision of affordable housing requires funding support from many partners, particularly other levels of government. No City can do it alone. Creating affordable housing takes time, money and commitment. Richmond has examples of success such as with the Storeys and Kiwanis developments. We hope the Provincial Government will soon approve the Pathways Clubhouse eighty-unit development.

Council and City staff continue to meet with federal and provincial officials to find opportunities to implement rental and affordable housing options. This includes support for our vulnerable residents who have no home such as those living with mental illness and other health challenges.

City Council wants people of all ages and economic resources to find Richmond to be a safe, resilient and welcoming community. Working proactively with our various partners, we will continue to actively seek solutions to the affordable housing challenge.