National

Vancouver touts Downtown Eastside housing plan for replacement of rooming houses

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 17 Dec, 2025 12:52 PM

The City of Vancouver says it has adopted a "significant shift" in housing policy for the Downtown Eastside to speed up the replacement of rooming houses in the impoverished neighbourhood.

Council voted last night to amend zoning and development rules, changing the definition of "social housing" in the neighbourhood, while reducing the number of units in a building required to be rented out at income assistance shelter rates.

The report to council recommending the changes says the revisions would align the city's affordability requirements with senior government funding programs, which could "decrease" affordability for some projects but increase development.

The report says it's "never been more expensive" to build affordable housing while the city continues to rely on aging single-room occupancy buildings to house low-income residents at risk of homelessness.

Mayor Ken Sim says single-room occupancy buildings are deteriorating and "regulatory barriers" have stopped replacement projects from going ahead.

The city says the changes adopted by council "modernize outdated rules" that have hampered efforts to fix "deteriorating housing conditions in one of Vancouver’s most complex neighbourhoods."

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. evacuation orders, alerts expand as floods cut off most links to Lower Mainland

Evacuation orders and alerts in southern British Columbia expanded overnight, as floodwaters and landslides cut off most major routes between the Lower Mainland and the Interior.

B.C. evacuation orders, alerts expand as floods cut off most links to Lower Mainland

'Not what they're saying': Carney rejects suggestion U.S. may exit trade pact

Prime Minister Mark Carney is pushing back on the suggestion that the U.S. may be considering pulling out of North America's trilateral free-trade pact.

'Not what they're saying': Carney rejects suggestion U.S. may exit trade pact

Virtual emergency care launching at four hospitals in B.C.'s Interior

Patients seeking emergency care at four hospitals in British Columbia's Interior may now be seen by a doctor working virtually in a pilot project aimed at modernizing rural health services.

Virtual emergency care launching at four hospitals in B.C.'s Interior

Inside the Ring of Fire: A tale of two First Nations and a road that could change everything

First Nation elders understood the south would march north eventually. They knew it would come in waves, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Those ancestors told their kids, who told theirs, and so on until today.

Inside the Ring of Fire: A tale of two First Nations and a road that could change everything

Half of Canadians support a new pipeline between Alberta and B.C.: poll

Half of Canadians are in favour of building a new bitumen pipeline between Alberta and B.C., while fewer than one in five outright oppose it, a new poll suggests.

Half of Canadians support a new pipeline between Alberta and B.C.: poll

Bank of Canada leaves key interest rate unchanged at 2.25%

The Bank of Canada left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday as it signalled the 2.25 per cent level is about right to balance keeping inflation in check with helping the economy grow.