City Council needs to be bold when it come to protecting affordable housing from being demolished and replaced with high end units.
But right now Councillor Pam Madoff says the city lacks the tooks to deny applications based on need.
However, Madoff and some colleagues are working to correct that.
Madoff says it would mirror a policy they now have that deals with rental units that are to be converted into strata units:
" And I believe the way the policy works is that if the vacancy rate is below 3 or 4% and if it's more than 4 units that are proposed to be converted to strata from rental, that council has the authority to decline that application simply based on that criteria. Nothing to do with land use."
Madoff is concerned the city is about to get its first application to demolish a 70's era building built as affordable housing.
A developer wants to replace the Beacon Arms, at Southgate and Quadra, as well as 2 homes beside it, with a 6 story 80-rental unit building where new units could fetch as much as $23-hundred a month.