Life in an apartment the size of a double parking space will be on full display today as the public gets its first inside look at the mini-living going on at the restored Burns Block building on West Hastings Street in Vancouver.
Boasting 30 micro units described as the smallest rental units in Canada by developer Reliance Properties and partner ITC Construction Group, the Burns building is part of the city’s ongoing affordable housing strategy.
Coun. Kerry Jang told The Province Sunday that the low-rent suites – which range in size from 226 square feet to 291 square feet and rent for an average of $850 a month – were designed with modest income earners in mind.
“What we are trying to do as part of the affordable housing plan and housing in general is to provide a range of housing,” he said. “Because right now, if you rent a place, it’s over $1,000 and that’s beyond people who are making $10 or $12 an hour.”
The city contributed a $50,000 grant to fix the face of the 100-year-old heritage building, $144,000 in property-tax reductions and 62,000 square feet in heritage bonus density.
…
“It’s for folks who need to work in Vancouver but can’t afford to live here,” Jang added. “They can live in Vancouver, go to work and save money on cars and all that kind of stuff because they don’t have to drive in so it makes a big difference.”
…
Wendy Pederson, researcher and organizer for the Carnegie Community Action Project, decried the renovation of the old hotel as gentrification, adding people living on welfare or on old age pensions won’t be able to afford the rents even at $850.
“In my view, it’s a crime that the last housing before homelessness is being converted into micro-lofts,” she said.
“Those rooms used to rent at welfare and old age pension rates, and now the Downtown Eastside is being gentrified by the upscaling of these hotels. It’s upscale by our standards,” she said, adding the pre-reno rents were around $375.
“We don’t have enough social housing, and we’re losing our [single-room occupancy] hotels to upscaling like the Burns Block.
“The city is ignoring gentrification as a cause of homelessness,” said Pederson. “Many residents in a very full hotel were evicted [in 2006] by the owner who wanted to empty his building.” … “That owner made $1 million flipping it,” she said.
- from ‘Living small on West Hastings’, The Province, 19 Dec 2011 [hat-tip jesse]
As we’ve said previously: “Calls for ‘affordable’ new-build housing are almost all band-aid solutions. They largely result in relatively low quality product at proportionally roughly the same elevated costs as all other local properties.” [16 Dec 2011] - vreaa
Olympic village rents for about $2-2.50/sqft per month. It is recognized as small and expensive. Most of newish yaletown is similar. $4/sqft is not cheap by any standard. This is like $4,000 for a full-size 2-bed apartment.
I pay $1.50 with a yard and garage.
One cannot deny these units are more affordable. Size matters apparently, though, as stated, these units required some municipal cooperation (read: de facto tax breaks) to make them viable. Not exactly market housing.
They are affordable only in the eyes of bureaucrats.
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/search/apa/van?maxAsk=850&srchType=A
LOL but bureaucrats cannot acknowledge any of those dwellings exist. They were inspected as “single family” homes. How can more than one family reside in them?
Never mind, as I mentioned, that many people discover the concept of “flatmates” to “gain efficiencies” in dwelling usage. You know, sharing stuff. If 1BRs are going for $700, one assumes that a bedroom in a house shared with some friends would be less than that.
Are these Reliance units “affordable”? If you “don’t play well with others” the answer is “I suppose so…”
I rent offices from Reliance on W Hastings (much more to the west) and the cost per sqft including all fees is much less than these apartments. I know, it’s offices vs apartments, but the difference still seems just too big.
..and in the eyes of idiots:
http://i42.tinypic.com/10xfzup.jpg
As someone who lived in one bedroom apartments for nearly a decade (which were usually 600-700 square feet), I can’t imagine living a comfortable life in 291 square feet. Sure, you can sleep there,do some basic cooking (but where do the dishes go?) but you’re certainly going to have to cut down on your shopping trips (there’s just no room for “stuff”, unless you have a separate storage space somewhere), and having more than one guest at a time would be a squeeze. I imagine this would appeal to travellers or students who aren’t laying down roots in the city, not anyone who actually plans on having a life.
Good point here: these small units are likely to have high turnover at those rents given the target market. That’s an added cost for the manager and reduces NOI.
I have to admit the argument for these units only works if the tenants are living within walking distance of their places of work/study. Otherwise the cost of a single zone transit pass allows for far more affordable options, and yes that involves flatmates, or as the developers like to call it “shared occupancy” (as if it’s some wholly innovative concept).
I don’t have flatmates any more but, out of curiosity, how much does a room in a house with some friends go for in Transit Zone 1 these days?
The poor can’t buy anything anyway
this sort of housing option is a slap in the face to canadians and our historical standard of living
it’s also a big fuck you to all residents of the SROs and DTES – any local vancouverite born/raised/etc. would be ashamed and embarrassed to displace these people and live in a cheesy micro-loft in the sketchiest neighborhood north of King George Highway.
this reminds me of the skinny 1 room wide buildings in Tokyo before the crash.
I know that certain “herbs” are quite popular in Vancouver. But, seriously, folks. The use is getting a bit beyond the “medicinal,” if you know what I mean.
Anyone who thinks that ~200 sq. ft. is livable in anything other than solitary confinement in a prison… and is willing to pay amounts closing in on $1000/month is going to need something stronger than Mary Jane to keep the delusion going.
These Lotuslanders are crazy.
http://www.nimisis.com/images/0407/obelix.jpg
toc toc toc LOL
if anything, a little chron would actually help people realize their delusions. (re: why it’s illegal)
At a $12/hr wage rate, $859/month would be nearly 41% of pretax income. at $10/hr, that’s nearly 50% of pretax income. Ignoring the prison cell dimensions, these things aren’t anywhere near “affordable.”
Someone sees it as a prison cell someone else as a resort hotel in BPOE.
a canadian with fond memories of life pre-fiscally irresponsible low interest rates sees it as a prison cell.
not an improvement from a damp basement suite
attn council: YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG
Everyone who has analyzed what these “apartments” really cost — I hope what you’ve discovered will be picked up the MSM (or would you want to consider writing a letter to the Province about all this?). The kind of analysis you are doing is very telling and should be put out there.
I can’t run the numbers myself, but my impression squares with E.G.’s. Will Vancouver increasingly become a city of haves and have-nots?
uhh.. it already is – maybe ride the #16 or #14 and be sure to grab a window seat.
I do ride the #16, thanks. And I said “Will Vancouver increasingly become a city of the haves and have-nots?.” I thought “increasingly” implied that “it already is a city of haves and have-nots.”
hello, professor – how does something ‘increasingly become’?
either it is or it isn’t
do or do not, there is no try, etc.
wow….the rent is not affordable. I don’t know how many can claim this is affordable housing and aimed at low income earners with a straight face.
Cheaper to just move to Tokyo. At least your wage would be higher and your apartment bigger. At least these units really do show that Vancouver is now the most expensive city in the world bar none.
Well… it might be cheaper in one regard, Airedales… but if you’re serious, you should know that on the basis of ‘local’ demand these things are only available on back-order…
http://tinyurl.com/dxd8y6v
and at least the girls would smile at you
LOL the place I rent is 1000sf, has a storage space almost the size of these units, is a 2 minute walk to skytrain and lougheed mall and only costs $150 more than these places. I dont see why anyone NEEDS to live downtown. Add a bus pass into your budget and you can get downtown from anywhere in Burnaby, South Van or Richmond in about 30 minutes. And you get to have a normal sized place.
Fully rented within days of being offered. Maybe it was a bit too affordable…?
why does anyone WANT to live downtown anymore? it sucks so bad – 24 hour a day clattering of shopping carts and drunk ESL student backpackers vomiting everywhere from seymour to robson, because it’s canada and there’s no rules, right?
These are 2 of the key reasons we finally left our fantastic view rental apartment downtown 5 years ago. Too funny.
yes, same here
If you have to ask that question, then you just don’t get it.
Well that’s ironic.
$850 is my rent, in New West. It’s a 1 bdrm, over 600 sqft. I’m pretty sure people with low incomes would prefer my place to this. Hipsters would take ‘em though.
So they evicted a bunch of low income tenants to make way for hipster pads. Vancouver disgusts me.
yep and they all moved to new west. have fun
i pay $900 for mt pleasant new 2009 600 sq ft apt never-lived-in, with dishwasher, 1 bedroom, patio, only, and only, lacking in suite laundry. $850 for this shoebox? wtf?.. seriously. how is this affordable? i am 10 dollar cab fare from downtown!! People who rent this probably don’t have access to craigslist or something… lol. fools, i say.
Why not just skip straight to coffins? First, they can be stacked. Second, they could double as “assisted living” when the government goes bankrupt.
I can’t believe the overpriced crap on Craigslist these days, it seems worse than ever. Finding a decent affordable rental wasn’t too bad until this past summer but now the pickins are slim. On a related topic, we went to a co-op orientation recently. They want $1290 for a ground floor, tiny, 2 bed with parking & hydro included. Rent increase of 6% comping in June. The apartment was very shabby and they looked at me like I was crazy when I asked about doing a little updating on my dime. Can’t have any units nicer than any others apparently so chipped formica counters for everyone! Even co-ops can’t be considered a reasonable option anymore.
Likely they are falling behind on their replacement reserve. Coops need decent capital plans or end up going to pot. They have to plan because the buck stops with them, not some mythical perpetual greater fool farm team bailing out bad investments.
Coops are socialism. Nothing more Nothing less. That is wrong at every level
You better relay that to the Glorious Housing Task Force, which is slated to recommend cooperatives to help solve Vancouver’s “affordability crisis”. Something about the free market distorting the ability of workers to live close to their designated assignments.
@keeper of the derp – you wrote “hello, professor – how does something ‘increasingly become’? either it is or it isn’t. do or do not, there is no try, etc.”
I’m not a professor, but how about “Housing in Vancouver has become increasingly unaffordable”? Does that make sense? “Increasingly” suggests a progression, no? For the record, I do believe Vancouver’s already a city of haves and have-nots, but I think that situation is going to get even more extreme.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20071016/homelessness_071016/
Will keeperofthederp increasingly become a douchebag? tsk
Vesta; ‘derp – If you take a look at your posts, you guys are actually on pretty much the same side of every issue.
@Vreaa host, you wrote: “Vesta; ‘derp – If you take a look at your posts, you guys are actually on pretty much the same side of every issue.”
No, we’re not actually, and there are things derp has said that I would not say myself or subscribe to, just as i would think there are things i’ve said he wouldn’t say or subscribe to. I think he and I do agree on Vancouver being a city of haves and have-nots, though based on my own experience here I don’t think the divide used to be as profound as it is now — i.e. that it has “increasingly” become worse. Furthermore, with the economic catastrophe that looks “increasingly” likely, I believe the divide will become “increasingly” wider, as more and more it will involve what was once considered the economic middle class here.
Hope I have made myself “increasingly” clear.
Vesta -> Okay, agreed, my statement was too much of a generalization.
What I (generally) meant was that you guys are very much on the same side regarding Vancouver’s preposterously overpriced RE, and have shared concerns about the deleterious effects of same on the society.
Derp is, most times, the court jester and says some ‘sharp’ stuff (in more ways than one). We try to censor as little as possible; largely because it’s tedious to do so.
The charm of the newness of these places will soon disappear. They will be well-lived-in (worn out) by a rapid succession of tenants. In time, the asking rents will decline.
Agreed. They look like they could well end up the single-occupancy dwellings of a murky future decade.
@Host — you said “We try to censor as little as possible; largely because it’s tedious to do so.” I’m completely in favour of lack of censorship, one of the things I like about this blog even when people write things to which I strongly object. And yes, you’re right that one thing derp and I (and many others here I believe) agree on is preposterously overpriced real estate and the deleterious effects of same. Thanks again for providing a forum where many of us who concur about this can share information, and, not least, vent!
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-year-walls-kept-closing-in.html
I actually have a friend that lives in one of these. Very efficient/minimalist design and layout, but the kitchen space leaves a lot to be desired. There are only two elements and I don’t recall seeing an oven [could be wrong though]. The fridge was mini-bar size, but worked for him [the only thing in his fridge was vodka and mix]. Does the place work for him? Yes. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be in that space for more than 1-2 years.
Yes, he is a hipster and that building was indeed hipster central.