Nonprofit Atira Women?s Resource Society to manage Regent Hotel

The Georgia Straight

Impoverished residents living in one of the worst hotels in Vancouver will soon see conditions there improve.

On February 13, Atira Development Society, a division of the nonprofit Atira Women’s Resource Society, signed an agreement with the owners of the Regent Hotel, the Sahota family, to assume operating responsibilities of the single-room occupancy hotel (SRO).

In a telephone interview, Atira’s founder and chief executive officer, Janice Abbott, cautioned that the situation at the Regent will not change overnight.

“It will take time to sort out what’s going on there,” she told the Straight. “We have a couple of immediate priorities. Pest control, definitely. Safety and security of individual rooms, which likely means changing all the locks.

“We will be trying to sort out who lives there and who doesn’t and get people who do live there on tenancy agreements. That’s a bigger job than one might think, because there are no records.”

The Regent Hotel is located on the south side of East Hastings Street just west of Main Street.

In August 2016, tenants filed a class-action lawsuit that described deplorable conditions at the Regent.

A long list of grievances is detailed in the applicants’ notice of claim. They include a lack of heat, lack of hot water, leaking roof, crumbling façade, rat infestation, broken elevator, and impassable fire escape, among other problems.

“There are serious health and safety issues resulting from the Sahotas’ failure to maintain the Regent,” the notice of claim reads. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

In December 2017, the City of Vancouver revealed that the Regent and the Balmoral, another Sahota hotel located directly across the street from the Regent, had together received 426 orders against them.

“This year the City ordered a full structural review of the Regent Hotel by a professional engineer, due to concerns with the safety and condition of the building,” the city’s media release noted.

“Based on the structural assessment, the City required repairs to damage caused by long-term leaking from the plumbing and building envelope. Temporary bracing and supports have been put in place to ensure the safety and stability of the building.

“The City has also been monitoring the Regent to ensure compliance with Standards of Maintenance by-law requirements. Several outstanding violations are unresolved. As a result, in April 2017 the City filed 47 charges against Triville Enterprises Ltd. (controlled by members of the Sahota family) in the B.C. Provincial Court, alleging violations of the City’s Standards of Maintenance By-law.  The defendants are due in Court on January 16, 2018 for a first appearance on these charges.”

Abbott emphasized that Atira has not received funding nor has it become Atira’s responsibility to address structural deficiencies or conduct major repairs on the Regent.

“It’s like if you asked me to look after your house while you moved to Prince George for a year. I’ll collect the rent and make sure the faucet is fixed if it leaks,” she explained. “But if the roof collapses, I’m not paying to fix your roof. It’s your house.

“The city will continue to hold them accountable,” she continued. “My assumption is the class-action lawsuit will continue and the courts will continue to hold them accountable.”

What Atira will be doing, Abbott said, is replacing existing staff at the hotel with the nonprofit’s employees. “And we will chip away at the minor, day-to-day orders and violations that are in place.”

Atira will also create a “shared-using room” in the Regent, Abbott added, where tenants can bring drugs like heroin and cocaine to inject them in a location where there is someone present to monitor and respond in the event of an overdose.

According to the B.C. Coroners Service, 88 percent of fatal overdoses in 2017 were indoors, and 60 percent of those deaths occurred in a private residence. The small rooms that characterize hotels like the Regent are the sort of places where many of those fatal overdoses are happening.

For that reason, in December 2016, Atira began incorporating shared-using rooms into buildings it operates throughout the Downtown Eastside. Other social-housing operators—including the Portland Hotel Society, RainCity Housing, and Lookout Emergency Aid Society—did the same shortly after.

Abbott said that Atira already has outreach workers visiting the Regent Hotel on a daily basis and expects to have a full staff in place within a few weeks.

© 2018 Vancouver free press.

Bristol Heights’ display spaces designed with the buyer in mind

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

If the display spaces at the Bristol Heights new-home community in Abbotsford proves anything about Polygon’s design team, it’s the power of a strong work ethic.
Three homes at the site reflect distinct personalities designed to appeal to a range of buyers. Even for the experienced team, the task proved to be a challenge.

“It is an immense amount of work in a very short time … but the designers are truly amazing at wrapping their heads around the feel of the home and putting them together so wonderfully and smoothly,” says Celia Dawson, senior vice-president of Polygon Homes. Envisioning a unique personality for each home (including a creative strategy for children’s rooms), creating schedules and coordinating the work of tradespeople and suppliers is a juggling act that demands precision and patience.

 “The personality of each display is looked at carefully,” Dawson explains. “[We ask ourselves], ‘What is our demographic and for this demographic, what kind of look might be the most fitting?’

In one display space, the light of a chandelier bounces off a huge dining room mirror. When choosing such a centrepiece, Dawson is as much a curator as a designer.

“It is like sculptural art and like art … it needs to be well curated into the space to work and speak with all the art and furnishings of the room,” Dawson says.

Dawson and her designers go for contrast between the plush upholstered pieces — one sofa and two club chairs in the case of one display home — against the dark stone fireplace and the coffee table in dark wood and glass.

Every member of Dawson’s group knows how to find a bargain, a shared professional trait that fills her with pride. “It always amazes me how the designers can find well-priced materials and ‘deals’ that always look like a million dollars when they design them into the homes.”

Experience has taught them where to spend and where to splurge.
“Millwork, carpets and the odd accessory are key focal points in a room and sometimes this means spending a little more in these areas.”
Dawson says that conventional, loved artwork can transform a space even more.

“You can have an empty room with white paint and it will come alive just by hanging original art — art that you relate to and have a strong passion and emotion for.
“I have said from the start of my career that I would invest in one piece of art a year. My first pieces of art were not expensive, but I loved them and they brought my home alive.”

Bristol Heights

What: 195 townhomes in the fifth and final townhome development at Polygon’s master-planned Westerleigh community in Abbotsford

Where: 30930 Westridge Place, Abbotsford

Residence sizes and prices: Two- and three-bedroom homes from 1,250 to 2,200 square feet, starting in the high-$400,000 range

Developer and builder: Polygon Bristol Heights Homes Ltd.

Sales centre: 30930 Westridge Place, Abbotsford

Sales centre hours: noon to 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

Approved 20-year proposal will create neighbourhood for 10,000-12,000 residents

John Mackie
The Province

The northeast corner of False Creek has long been something of a no man’s land. Pre-Expo 86 it was largely industrial; post-Expo it’s mostly been parking lots.

But not for much longer. After a long and sometimes tortuous special council meeting Tuesday, Vancouver council passed its Northeast False Creek plan.

The 20-year plan includes $1.7 billion in benefits for the city, which hopes to recoup most or even all of the cost from development levies and contributions from the federal and provincial governments.

Six hundred million dollars will go to affordable housing, and $360 million to “critical infrastructure” such as tearing down the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts and replacing them with a new street network.

The basic idea is to redevelop the site into a new waterfront neighbourhood with 10,000 to 12,000 residents. It will have an Indigenous name, which will be determined after consultation with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh First Nations.

Most of the new residents will be housed in 20 to 25 highrise towers that will stretch from the Plaza of Nations on the west to Carrall Street on the east.

Many will be market condos, but one area will be set aside as rental, and there will be lots of social housing in the mix — 1,800 units, which are expected to house about 3,500 people.

Strathcona activist Pete Fry has been working on a part of the plan that will celebrate Hogan’s Alley, a historic lane that was the centre of early Vancouver’s black population. It was torn down when the current Georgia Viaduct was built in the early 1970s.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done, that’s for sure,” he said.

“(But) certainly there’s some great stuff in there, fantastic work on Hogan’s Alley recognition and a meaningful commitment to affordable rental housing, and purpose-built rental housing.

“That said there’s still a lot of work to be done with Chinatown, and there’s still a lot of work to be done on the arterial (road) that’s going to replace (the traffic from) Prior Street.”

NPA councillor George Affleck also thinks there are some good parts to the plan. But he fears it may be too ambitious, given that the funding will mostly come from developer contributions.

“Design is nice, but if you have no way of paying for it …” said Affleck.

“If we head into a potential recession and the development doesn’t happen (as expected) and we start working on a lot of this stuff, there’s going to be problems, as far as where is the money coming from.

“If real estate suddenly goes down by 30 per cent developers will be giving less CACs (community amenity contributions). Can this market continue? Does this assume that the market will continue to rise?

“I would say so, and I would say that’s naive, and concerning. It’s called speculation, and the city shouldn’t be playing that game.”

City planner Kevin McNaney said taking down the viaducts will cost $240 million.

“We’ve been told from Day 1 that it has to finance itself through development contributions, CACs, long-term land leases, land transactions and (other) tools,” said McNaney.

“For the overall public benefits package, we’re hoping that other levels of government with housing programs chip in, and (will also) help make Hogan’s Alley a reality.”

Parks and open spaces will account for $233 million of the $1.7 billion in public benefits. The plan also sees $180 million in new community facilities, $102 million in civic facilities, $177 million for environmental and flood protection, $30 million for child care and $15 million for heritage.

McNaney said there will probably be a nine-month “procurement process” for the contract to take down the viaducts, followed by two-and-a-half years of construction.

“We’ve phased it carefully so that there’s minimal traffic disruption,” he said.

“The first thing you do is build the new two-way Pacific, then you take down (the) Georgia (Viaduct) so you can build a ramp that connects from Beatty Street down to Pacific. Eventually the Dunsmuir Viaduct will come down as well, but you keep that up as long as you can to maintain some traffic flow during construction.”

McNaney expects the two developers in the area — Concord Pacific and Canadian Metropolitan Properties — will be proceeding with rezonings “in the coming months.”

“It gets time to get through rezoning and development permits,” he said, “so (it will be) a couple of years I would say before you see construction in the ground.”

He said the social housing in the plan will be built as the plan proceeds, but that in the interim the city hopes to start building on six social housing sites in the Concord lands.

“There are some existing sites in False Creek North from previous rezonings that we can work with the province and Concord to develop, so hopefully they’ll get built sooner,” he said.

“Then as the development proceeds, developers contribute the land and the funding for the social housing, or we use partnerships. So it’ll get built as the market housing is being built.”

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

Canadian Existing Home Sales (January 2018)

Michael Dolega
other

• Canadian existing home sales slumped 14.5% m/m in January, ending a five month streak of increases and erasing all the gains seen during this time. 
• Only five of the twenty-six main markets experienced increases, with the group consisting of: Newfoundland & Labrador, Saguenay, Gatineau, Sudbury and Regina. On the other hand, fifteen markets experienced double digit percent declines. Ottawa (-32.6%), GTA (-26.6%) and Hamilton (-31.7%) led the pull-back with sharp declines also seen across the rest of the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH). Most B.C. markets also experienced significant decreases with Victoria (-17.1%), Fraser Valley (-14.8%) and GVA (-10.5%). Alberta and Manitoba markets also dipped lower, with Calgary (-15.3%), Edmonton (-14.9%) and Winnipeg (-10.8%) all down in double digits. Remaining Canadian markets were moderately lower. 
• New listings were not to be outdone, slumping an even greater 21.6% nationally. Ontario and B.C. markets led the pullback with London (-44.8%), GTA (-39.3%), Fraser Valley (-38.8%) and GVA (-33.0%) topping the list. Only four markets experienced an uptick in listings – mostly markets that have also experienced an increase in sales.
• The outsized decline in listings led to a tightening of market conditions, with the sales to listings ratio up 5.3 points to 63.6% nationally. Most acute tightening was experienced in several GGH markets. The ratio surged in Kitchener-Waterloo (up 32.3 to 102.8%) and London (up 23.2 to 94.6%), with the GTA also up a healthy 9.7pp to 45.7%. Fraser Valley (up 26.3 to 93.6%) and GVA (up 19 to 75.7%) also tightened up sharply.
• The average home price declined 2.4% m/m, buckling the five month trend. It was a mixed bag across markets, half the provinces experiencing declines led by N.S. (-3.9%) while P.E.I. (+9.8%) and N.B. (+6.1%) lead the gains. Prices ticked down by 1.6% in Ontario and B.C. with values 4.2% lower in the GVA, while GTA prices were slightly softer, down 0.9%.
• The price decline was entirely due to the change in composition of properties sold, with GTA and GVA sales accounting for just 23.4% of national sales – down from 25.8% in the previous month. After seasonal adjustment, the national HPI rose 0.5%, with gains of 1.1% and 0.4% for GVA and GTA.  On a year-over-year basis the national index decelerated from 9.2% to 7.7%. The trend was mirrored by the GTA HPI, which slowed to 5.3% from 7.3%, while the GVA HPI accelerated from 16% to 16.8%.

Key Implications

• This morning’s report was a highly anticipated one as it gave us a glimpse of how the implementation of updated B20 rules impacted the Canadian housing market and how the market is faring in light of higher interest rates. 
• On the whole, the numbers confirmed our expectations that B20 rules would pull-forward activity into late-2017, with sales slumping in January on the give-back. The pull-forward was further corroborated by the dynamics of new listings, which also increased ahead of the new rules, before properties being pulled-off. While it is too early to precisely estimate how much of the rise in late-2017 is related to the pull-forward, the report suggests that this dynamic accounted for much of it.
• The notion that pull-forward was central to the rise in late-2017 is further confirmed by the regional dynamics. The give-back was most apparent in Ontario and (to a lesser extent) B.C. – the two markets most affected by the B20 rules owing to their high prices and relatively large share of federally-regulated lending (particularly in Ontario).
• We expect some near-term volatility to persist in the market, as the fallout from the new rules and rising rates is absorbed by buyers and sellers, before some stabilization by mid-year. Thereafter we expect activity to remain weighed down by rising interest rates, but with markets largely in balanced territory prices should remain well supported. For our detailed forecast please click here.

Panoramic views, amenities aplenty big pluses to new West Coquitlam community

Kathleen Freimond
The Vancouver Sun

Project: Hensley

Project address: 430 Westview Street

Project city: Coquitlam

Developer: Cressey Development Group

Architect: Chris Dikeakos Architects

Interior designer: Insight design

Project size: 264 homes in the market tower

Bedrooms: one, two and three bedrooms

Unit size: 550 – 1,410 square feet

Price: From $482,999 to $990,999

Sales centre: 150 A-3355 North Rd., Burnaby

Sales centre hours: Private preview appointments are by appointment only. Contact the Hensley sales team at 604-421-1075 to schedule appointments.

Phone: 604-421-1639

Website: cressey.com/hensleybycressey/#register

The top level of Hensley, Cressey Development Group’s planned new residential tower in West Coquitlam, will accommodate upscale amenities rather than the more typical penthouse suites.

Inspired by the success of the amenity space in the top two floors of its MThree tower, also in Coquitlam, the Hensley amenities are a big part of the buying decision for potential homeowners in the 33-level highrise at 430 Westview Street, says Jason Turcotte, Cressey’s vice-president of development.

Taking advantage of panoramic city and mountain views, the striking triple-volume glass-enclosed space will open to the outdoors and be a big draw for buyers, Turcotte says.

 “We expect the buyers to be working professionals. Rapid transit is very important to them, but they also appreciate lifestyle and want extra space for entertaining, leisure and exercise, so the amenities are super important.

“There are social spaces, including a bar area – with a sports-bar feel – a games area with a pool table and ping pong, a formal entertaining space with a fully appointed kitchen and a long dining table that can seat 20.” 

The space, named the Hensley Sky Club, will be furnished with a large island in the kitchen with a sintered stone countertop. A four-inch mitred edge and dramatic angled sides will ensure the custom-designed island enhances functionality, while adding an artistic, sculptural element to the space.

But the planning process also considered that residents would be looking for quieter areas away from the hubbub of group get-togethers. Turcotte says that to that end, there will also be “passive areas” where people can relax with a book, he says.

“Sometimes, we can be guilty of trying to over program or over prescribe space; sometimes, the best spaces don’t have a specific use, and people use and experience that space in their own way,” he says.

A second amenity area planned for the ground floor includes a fitness facility with spacious change rooms, a steam room and sauna, an outdoor pool, a covered hot tub, a fire pit, barbecue and picnic area and an outdoor children’s play area.

With the highest level in the building devoted to amenities, Turcotte says Chris Dikeakos Architects created 16 double-storey units – dubbed ‘SkyHomes’ – which he describes as “penthouses in the middle part of the building.”

 “The design pulls the middle portion – the outer skin – of the building in,” says Turcotte, explaining that four floors of the building are stepped in to differentiate the skyhomes.

These units have living space on the lower level and bedrooms and bathrooms on the second level.

In total, there are 264 homes in Hensley including one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging in size from 550 to 1,410 square feet.

While buyers in new residential tower developments are typically able to choose a colour palette, Hensley homeowners can also select their preferred interior design: ‘Hotel’ or ‘Home’.

“We were thinking about the end user and the variety of people who will be buying the homes; we wanted to give them the ability to tailor their space to their lifestyle,” says Linda Gallo, associate at Insight Design. “The Hotel option is for the person who travels a lot and wants a hotel feel. It’s a little more sleek and contemporary, with the layout more focused on entertaining, while the Home [option] is for someone living there full time who wants lots of storage space.”

The Hotel design is showcased in the two-bedroom unit in the presentation centre at 3355 North Road, Burnaby. It also features a Home kitchen and two bathrooms, representing each design plan.

One of the significant differences between the two designs is seen in the Hotel kitchen, where the cooktop is on the back wall and a counter-to-ceiling porcelain slab backsplash gives the space a dramatic flair. In the Home kitchen, the layout is more traditional, with upper cabinets.

Buyers can select from two colour palettes, Walnut and Driftwood. In the Driftwood scheme, the lighter laminate floors contrast against cabinets painted in a charcoal matte lacquer, while the Walnut option features white cabinetry with Walnut-look laminate flooring.

The porcelain backsplashes in both palettes feature slabs that mimic the look of crosscut travertine. The countertops are quartz – grey in the Walnut palette and white for those who choose the Driftwood colour scheme.

Cabinet door and drawer pulls from Kartners enhance the elegant kitchens and bathrooms. Gallo says the pulls were specially customized for Hensley.

“We wanted to create a space with consistent lines and notes throughout the space and this hardware was one example of how we were able to achieve that,” she says. The pulls’ square edges and gentle curves echo the lines of the Kohler faucets and sinks.

White 12-by-24-inch tiles give the bathrooms in both designs a clean and bright ambience. In the Hotel option, bathrooms have glass-enclosed showers and vessel sinks, while the Home design has a shower in the ensuite and a bathtub and undermount sinks in the main bathroom.

Under-cabinet lighting is a feature in the bathrooms, where recessed pedestals give the illusion of floating vanities.

The Hensley is set to be a landmark in the area with distinctive columns that zigzag up the entire height of the tower. Turcotte also believes the location will be attractive to buyers.

The Westview Street site is close to the Lougheed mall and SkyTrain. “It’s a block off North Road, close to the action without being in the middle of it,” he says.

© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc.

BC Government
other

In November 2017, the Superintendent of Real Estate approved new rules to come into force on March 15, 2018. The new rules focus on two major areas:

• prohibiting the practice of dual agency, except in remote and under-served locations, and
• enhancing consumer education and awareness by increasing mandatory licensee disclosures regarding representation and remuneration.

The Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate (OSRE) is aware of the considerable concern from industry surrounding the implementation of the new rules and the impending implementation date. We are listening and are committed to ensuring a successful implementation of the new rules and ensuring that licensees have necessary information regarding the rules before they come into force. To this end, we would like to provide licensees with the following update.

1. Date Change – New rules related to dual agency and enhanced consumer disclosures will now come into force June 15, 2018.

While the Real Estate Council has been working diligently to implement the new rules, it is clear that additional time would ensure a more successful roll out of the upcoming changes. Therefore, the Superintendent is amending the effective date of the rules related to dual agency and consumer disclosures from March 15, 2018 to June 15, 2018. This will allow education on the new rules to be in place prior to their coming into force.

2. Education for Licensees and Clarification of Rule Intent

In addition to the change in implementation date, OSRE intends to publish a package of rules for consultation in the coming weeks to protect the interests of consumers and to ensure stability within the industry.

Clarity to licensees on how to handle conflicts of interests involving clients

Licensees require clarity on how conflicts of interest related to client representation must be addressed. In ending dual agency, it was OSRE’s intent that a licensee be able to continue to work with only one party to the trade in real estate where there is a conflict relating to client representation – as long as they receive consent from all parties involved in the transaction. A new rule will be drafted to support this approach, which will strengthen consumer protection.

Continuing professional education for licensees

We will be proposing a new rule to ensure licensees receive continuing professional education related to significant new rule changes and as other circumstances arise when it is in the public and professional interest to do so. The first course established under this rule is currently being developed by the Real Estate Council. Council has advised us that this course will be available this Spring.

Additional Rules: Language Proficiency Requirements and Disclosure of Remuneration to Sellers

In addition to the significant changes identified above, the new rule package will enshrine the Real Estate Council’s English language proficiency requirements into the rules and will provide clarification that the 5-11.1 disclosure of remuneration to sellers must include dollar amounts.

The proposed rules will be posted for a 30 day public consultation in the coming weeks on the OSRE website at www.gov.bc.ca/OSRE. Licensees will be notified directly when the consultation is open.

As a regulator working in the public interest, protecting consumers is OSRE’s top priority and is at the core of our mandate. The rules related to dual agency and enhanced consumer disclosures were written with this consumer protection focus, and with specific intent. The measures we are taking today will help ensure they are interpreted and implemented in a manner that reflects this intent.

Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

There was little change in housing starts in January with the 6-month trend at 224,865 compared to 226,346 in December.

“The national trend in housing starts held steady for a third consecutive month in January, remaining near the 10-year high set in December,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “This reflects higher starts of multi-unit dwellings in urban centres in recent months, which has offset lower starts of single-detached homes.”

CMHC data reveals that Vancouver’s starts almost doubled the level of a year earlier with the North Shore particularly hot due to condo and multi-family developments getting underway.

Toronto’s starts continued to trend lower for the second consecutive month. Multi-family starts were higher, helping to offset lower numbers of single-family homes which have seen weaker demand due to more supply in the resale market.

Among the other highlights were gains for Kelowna, Lethbridge, Gatineau, Barrie and Guelph. The latter saw the highest number of apartment starts for any January since 1991.

Starts continued their downward trend in Kingston and Edmonton.

The standalone seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 216,210 units in January, essentially unchanged from 216,275 units in December.

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has published a new report on housing affordability in Canada’s biggest cities but admits it doesn’t have all the answers.

The agency found that escalating house prices are mainly driven by strong economic and population growth, and low mortgage rates; with Toronto and Vancouver lagging on the supply side.

While the two hottest markets showed large and persistent price increases during the analysis period of 2010-2016, Montreal saw only modest growth and the oil-dependent Calgary and Edmonton markets gained slightly.

Vancouver led the gains over the 6 year period with a 48% rise in house prices with population and disposable income rises, and low mortgage rates, accounting for almost 75% of that rise.

House prices increased by 40% in Toronto over the same time period with 40% of the rise being explained by conventional economic factors.

These price increases have tended to be for single-family homes rather than condo apartments. Supply of condos has been proportionately greater than for single-family homes.

“Large Canadian centres like Toronto and Vancouver are increasingly behaving like world-class cities,” said Aled ab Iorwerth, CMHC’s deputy chief economist. “Their strong local economies and historically low interest rates make them attractive to both people and industry which drives up demand for housing. When you have weak supply responses, as you do in these markets, prices have nowhere to go but up.

Although investor demand for condos has increased the rental supply, CMHC says that they tend to be more expensive than purpose-built rentals.

The report also highlights that measures to address the supply challenges are “more likely to have positive impacts than measures focused on the demand side.”

“While it is true that the supply response in Toronto and Vancouver has been significantly weaker than in other Canadian metropolitan areas, we do not fully know why this is the case,” said Evan Siddall, CMHC’s president and CEO. There continues to be data gaps and we need to work more closely with jurisdictions at all levels to fully understand what is happening.”

Copyright © 2018 Key Media Pty Ltd