RePlan Highlights Spring 2016

With leases on City land expiring as early as 2022 and 2023, RePlan is in conversations with the City of Vancouver (COV) to develop an approach that will provide residents with an affordable option to remain in their community beyond lease expiry dates.

We are particularly hopeful that the recent appointment of Chris Baas as Project Manager for False Creek South (FCS) will provide more clarity for lease renewal in False Creek South in the near future.

Following Chris’ appointment, regular FCS Steering Committee meetings of senior COV staff from housing, planning, real estate and finance were initiated. Meetings are chaired by City Manager Sadhu Johnson and take place every three weeks. The COV liaison team Richard Evans (Chair, RePlan), Sharon Yandle (President, FCSNA), supported by its consultants also had two meetings with representatives of the group to be updated on the progress of working towards a work plan for lease renewal and community planning. At the meeting, RePlan communicated that solidifying broad principles for future work is an important first step, which can be achieved via a council motion.

For Strata Leaseholders, following RePlan’s written statement to the BC government’s Housing Policy Branch (see SLS minutes of the Meeting of March 23, 2016, including Preliminary Comments on Possible Amendments to the Strata Property Act) stating our opposition to changes to the Strata Property Act, provincial representatives met with RePlan in April to discuss our perspective on the need for a clear framework for lease renewal.

For housing co-ops, the City of Vancouver (COV) is currently preparing a framework for renewal of co-op leases that are set to expire in the next ten years. The framework is expected to set a precedent for co-ops with leases expiring in 2036 and beyond.

To discuss this framework, the co-op committee had a first co-op specific meeting with staff from the housing department last month. At the meeting the City outlined some of its aspirations regarding lease renewal and the RePlan representatives presented their own perspective on what is important for housing co-ops. The draft document “Telling the Co-op Story” summarizes our perspective of what Housing Co-ops are and will be presented for endorsement by all co-op boards at the upcoming meeting of the Joint Co-op Board Committee on June 2nd.