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Use Government's Vacant, Unused "Lazy" Land for Housing?
Want more social housing? Governments can offer their unused land (shuttered schools, office buildings and vacant properties) for social and below-market rental home building instead. Imagine your local community centre, ice rink, indoor pool, library or public school with a high-rise of rental apartments for local residents and workers above it?
Better land-use planning could lead to more annual income-tested co-op housing and new lower-cost apartments for all budgets in all communities.
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A Globe and Mail article found "613 pieces of of lazy (vacant/underused) land in cities and towns across Canada – a collection of federal real estate large enough to create about 288,000 housing units for nearly 750,000 Canadians."
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The Vancouver School Board owns significantly underused land that could easily be repurposed to housing, if allowed. A recent Vancouver Sun article said Vancouver has flagged their 51-year-old Kingsgate Mall mall as a “large and unique site” to potentially hold 30 - storey towers with rental housing and retail, along with public amenities, as part of the massive Broadway plan.
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Homebuilders Beedie Development, with a lease on the mall until 2071, noted on Linkedin: "The Vancouver School Board owns 223 properties worth more than $9.5 billion. Less than half of those properties are operational schools. The VSB’s real estate portfolio also includes vacant lots, 86 apartments, two community centres (including the West End Community Centre valued at $133 million), a daycare, Kingsgate Mall, and more.
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Decisions on how to manage its almost $10 billion in VSB properties are made by the school board’s nine elected trustees, none of whom (by their own admission) have any background in real estate.
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Contrast that to the Toronto School Board (TSB) with land worth twice as much, but that district is five times bigger. The TSB created the Toronto Lands Corporation to manage the lease, sale, and future planning of its properties. Two people with significant real estate experience sit on the corporation’s board along with other community members, school trustees and school board staff.
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The Vancouver School board’s ongoing mismanagement and lack of accountability of their vast real estate portfolio needs to be addressed. Its mismanagement of the Kingsgate Mall file alone has cost them tens of millions of dollars."
A Common-Sense Solution on Unused, Surplus School Property
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Vancouver City Council is taking action and using some of its surplus land, a former basketball court, for housing.
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After hearing from city staff, a housing builder and public speakers, Council approved a portion of land at Sandford Fleming Elementary School on East 49th Avenue for much-needed local homes. CTV news reported they entered into a 99-year lease with Vittori Lanark Holdings Ltd. for $8.5 million.
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Plans include a six-storey, mixed-use apartment building with 20 per cent of the units below market prices.
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Mayor Ken Sim, Coun. Pete Fry, and Coun. Rebecca Bligh were absent for the vote, while Coun. Sean Orr and Coun. Lucy Maloney voted in opposition of the rezoning.
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