THIS EPISODE: When Policy Pauses Public Ownership
We’ve spoken a lot about community land trusts in this series, and it’s been gaining momentum in cities and towns all over Canada. But there are some policy choices that are stalling some land trust projects. Here we bring you two cases from Vancouver, and how these barriers can be removed.
First, we speak to Djaka Blais, executive director of the Hogan’s Alley Society. There is a municipal plan in place to rehabilitate an historically Black community, which was ruined years ago when viaducts were built over top of it for an expressway that was never completed, but the plan can’t move ahead while those unused viaducts still stand:
We want to see municipal, provincial, and federal governments prioritizing moving forward with this plan, which includes the removal of the viaducts, to really be able to deliver on the commitments that were made in this municipal policy, speaking to cultural redress and reconciliation.
And we speak to Andy Bond, executive director of the Downtown East Side Community Land Trust, speaks about his organizations success in acquiring property for affordable housing in this low-income neighbourhood. But the City has also changed zoning in the area that previously mandated 60% non-market housing:
Concerns for us is the possibility of land values being driven up because of this… the time that we’re in right now with market conditions, I don’t think there’s a rush to buy buildings… but, down the road, it could be problematic in terms of raising land value through speculation.
How can policy changes help community land trusts move forward?
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