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Reliance Properties proposes first-ever ‘workforce rental housing’ in Vancouver.

Reliance Properties proposes first-ever ‘workforce rental housing’ in Vancouver.

The global pandemic highlighted the vital role of essential workers like paramedics, nurses, grocery clerks and construction workers. Reliance Properties wants to fill a housing gap to provide rent-relief for these middle earners, so they can live and work within proximity.

Reliance with its partners is proposing a residential rental building in the downtown core that would include more than 100 homes designated as ‘workforce housing’ for essential workers. Workforce housing currently does not exist in the city. The remaining homes would be market rental, with commercial use at the base.

SIGN TO SUPPORT
"It is critical for emergency responders and frontline workers to live in the communities in which they serve, especially if there is a natural disaster like an earthquake which requires immediate and coordinated emergency response. Workforce housing can be an attainable form of housing for essential workers, and it helps employers recruit and retain employees."
Troy Clifford
President of Ambulance Paramedics of BC

Key Points

  • The site is currently a parking structure designated for office space. With 5 million square feet of office space currently under development in downtown, rental homes would supplement these future job spaces.
  • Under the rezoning policy, residential may be considered for large sites which incorporate commercial space. Reliance’s proposal meets the conditions for rezoning to be considered.
  • In a recent Greater Vancouver Board of Trade housing report, 73 per cent of employers said that housing affordability had affected their ability to recruit and retain employees.
  • Housing Minister David Eby is on record as saying: “We really need to be building workforce housing. We desperately need housing for families that live, work and pay taxes in Metro Vancouver.”
  • Traffic congestion costs Metro Vancouver’s economy an estimated $1.5 billion a year due to delayed commercial goods, health issues, and lost employee productivity.
  • Reliance’s project would provide walkable housing and improve workforce resiliency.
  • Less traffic congestion would reduce emergency response times and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The proposal is a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) given the site is located less than 150 metres from Burrard Street Skytrain Station.

Project Details

  • Location: Central Business District
  • Site: Currently a parking structure at the corner of Thurlow & Melville (behind the MacMillan Bloedel building, a designated heritage building).
  • Proposal:
    • 46-storey residential rental building totaling 478 secured rental homes.
    • Workforce Housing: 104 homes
    • Market rental: 374 homes
    • Restoration and expansion of public plaza that extends around the MacMillan Bloedel building.
  • Middle Earners:
    • People who are employed but don’t qualify for government assistance and cannot afford to buy or pay market-rents in the city in which they work.
    • Annual salary range: $39,200 and $78,500

Media Coverage

Daily Hive: 46-storey tower with 478 rental homes proposed next to SkyTrain Burrard Station

Vancouver Sun: Dan Fumano: Vancouver mayor turns focus to clearing ‘backlog’ of rental projects 

Urban YVR: Reliance hopes city will consider all-rental tower in CBD

Elevator World: Developer Plans Rental High Rise in Vancouver

I support housing for essential workers in Vancouver’s downtown core

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Alan Stovell

Jon Stovell

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Hassan 

Bob

Real Estate Reimagined

Reliance Properties reimagines real estate. From retrofitting a dilapidated building on the Downtown Eastside into Vancouver’s first micro-lofts, to repurposing an abandoned heritage hotel to condos in Victoria, to developing a 550-foot skyscraper on a small vacant site in downtown Vancouver, Reliance provides sustainable, creative housing solutions. The company has won multiple regional and national awards for design, innovation, and architectural heritage renewal. Reliance’s extensive work also includes award-winning heritage restoration and modern additions to commercial space.

Founded in 1955, the family-owned company is one of BC’s longest-serving real estate owners, developers, and property managers of residential, office, live-work, and retail properties. Reliance holds the largest private portfolio of heritage buildings in Western Canada and is a notable supporter of arts and culture in BC, including providing Emily Carr University of Art & Design its single-largest donation at $7 million. President & CEO Jon Stovell is the current (and past) chair of the Urban Development Institute and makes frequent media appearances to advance housing solutions.

Visit www.relianceproperties.ca for more information.