Vancouver Sun ePaper

It would be easier to op­pose devel­op­ment and pre­tend Van­cou­ver is some­how im­mune to mar­ket con­di­tions, chang­ing de­mo­graph­ics and in­ter­na­tional in­vestors. But the right thing to do is to find ac­cept­able so­lu­tions to the hous­ing chal­lenge, so­lu­tions that fit every­one in our com­mu­nity. It’s up to all of us to open our minds and en­vi­sion a bet­ter Van­cou­ver, a city that can adapt to evolv­ing cir­cum­stances. In some cases, it will mean let­ting go of the tra­di­tional, de­tached­home mind­set and search­ing for the “miss­ing­mid­dle” form of hous­ing — be­tween the sin­gle­fam­ily home and the condo unit. “The miss­ing mid­dle” is a term re­fer­ring to hous­ing types such as town­houses, duplexes and triplexes. Such op­tions can be an ideal choice for young fam­i­lies and those un­able to af­ford a de­tached home.

And yet, we have been slow to em­brace these op­tions. In the City of Van­cou­ver, for ex­am­ple, there were more than 5,000 hous­ing starts in 2015, but just five per cent were row/town­houses, duplexes and triplexes. The rest were de­tached homes or condo units.

Now is the time to en­sure we re­main a West Coast gem, a vi­brant city that caters to the needs of its ci­ti­zens while un­afraid to wel­come the world. The chal­lenge will be for us to reimag­ine Van­cou­ver and en­sure it be­comes the mod­ern, cos­mopoli­tan and inclusive city of the fu­ture. We can do bet­ter for our par­ents, who want to age in place, for our chil­dren.