Grandview-Woodland plan no solution to housing affordability crisis, says resident

Vancouver has releaseditscommunity plan for the Grandview-Woodlandneighbourhood,which includes proposalsfor thousands of new housing units and a number ofhigh-rise towers, includinga 24-storeytower atCommercial Drive and Broadway.

But one resident believesthe plan falls far short in addressing the dual issues of affordability and lack ofhousingstock.

Kyle MacDonald,a 36-year-old father and home owner inGrandview-Woodland,stands out against a chorus of community activists and residents whooppose increased density.

MacDonald wants to see even more density than what's proposed for the East Vancouver neighbourhood way more and believes the viability of the neighbourhood depends on it.

MacDonald is part of a burgeoning'YIMBY' movement in Vancouver. YIMBY stands for Yes In My Backyard.

He also once traded a red paper clip for a house, but that's another story.

MacDonaldspoke with the CBC's Stephen Quinn.

Q&A with YIMBY proponent Kyle MacDonald

How challenging is it for you and your family to live in Grandview-Woodland?

I'm not going to lie, it's not difficult ... because I already own a house.Mychallenge isseeing the neighbourhood changingso quickly.

Half duplexes on my street were going for $700,000 to$900,000 last year. They're $1.3 - $1.4 millionthis year.

And these are places without any rentalsuite help, places that until recently were quite affordable for a family to move into.

Pretty much the whole neighbourhood has been zoned for duplexes in the new plan.

What the plan doesn't acknowledgeis that pretty much the whole neighbourhood is already at duplexzoning density. You have alotof suites and a lot of garages withpeople living in them.

There's already significant density in the neighbourhood, but I think there's room for much more. I think the zoning could go to afour-plexor afive-plex. Whynot up the [floorspace ratio]?

I think you could get young families maybe splitting a lot, forminglittle mini co-ops for each lot, things like that.

You've said Grandview-Woodlandis at risk of becoming some kind of Point Grey or Shaughnessy East. What did you mean by that?

I think there's a lot of Italian days/hippies on the Drive vibe still there. The populationof the neighbourhood has gone down by about 2,000 since 1995. It's the only neighbourhood in Vancouver to lose population.

And what's happening is the older residents, their kids have moved out of the house, and the population density is actually decreasing in the [current]single family zones. Ihonestly don't think theduplexeswill save this neighbourhood.

I would really hate to see East Vancouver turn into a new country club. I think the Westsidehas gone that way,what you're finding is families unable to remain in the neighbourhood they grew up in. I would love all my young friends who want to move to East Van and start families to be able to do so. Thekeyis adding affordable supplyand a variety of supply.

You say duplexes aren't creating enough density. What would?

Stacked town homes, four or five-storeytownhomes with one home per level. I believerow housing is completely under-represented as stock. Four or five-storey apartment buildings. The middle is completely missing in Vancouver.

What about those who argue we like the neighbourhood the way it is, we like the scale of it,we don't want a 24-storeytower in theSafewayparking lot?

Protecting the architectural nature of the neighbourhood at the expense of protecting the ability for young people to live therewill eventuallyturnthe neighbourhood in to a snobby country club atthe expense of children and young families moving in.I think it's a disaster waiting to happen.

What about public amenities?What happens to the schools and parks andparking when you start to load too much density into the neighbourhood?

When you're shutting down elementary schools I think it's a moot point. And if you increase taxrevenue we'll have the funding to increase public amenities.

Parking is the new longdistance. In ten years no one will care about it. If you have anEvo or aCar2goit takes 19 cars off the road. We have self-driving vehicles in development that are coming and actually on the road in parts of theworld.

Parking?I have four cars at my house, we don't use any of them. I'mtotallyincentivizedto have vehicles out front on the street becausewe don't price it at all. I think the world is going to change real quick on the whole parking issue.

You're like the neighbourhood unicorn. Nobody thinks theway you do.

We're starting a movement, it's part of the worldwide YIMBY movement Yes in My Back Yard which is counter current to Not In My Backyard.

If you go to #YVRYIMBYyou can find an eclectic assortment of people around the city withdifferentversions of what they would like to build in their backyard.

PersonallyI would like to build a three-storeyrowhousein my backyard. Right now there's two 1990s vehicles I don't need.