While no one doubts the demand for them, these executives mostly agreed that the costs still outweigh the achievable rents for purpose-built rentals in the majority of cases.
We at ENM have dedicated ourselves to building purpose-built rental units in the Lower Mainland to help meet the overwhelming need for more rental supply. Our co-founder, Daniel Greenhalgh, has a good grasp on the risks and razor-thin profit margins for these kinds of projects. But he sees a future for the company in specializing in high-quality properties in which tenants can reliably plan for their future.
“I think families in the Lower Mainland who are priced out of buying a home are becoming more and more comfortable with being renters for the foreseeable future,” says Greenhalgh. “These people want to live in modern, stylish homes with lots of amenities, like 24 hour doormen, shared common spaces, gyms and parcel delivery services. They want to be located in desirable, walkable communities close to parks and green spaces. So we at ENM are hoping to be at the forefront of meeting this demand and providing high-quality purpose-built rental properties.”
Greenhalgh has seen first-hand the many barriers to building rental properties. He believes that the provincial government could be doing a lot more to help developers like ENM meet the urgent need for rentals. “Right now, the approval process for purpose-built rentals is the same for market-rate condos. We need a lot more capacity at the municipal level to handle permits and applications, and funding for that capacity needs to come from the provincial government.”
The federal government has earmarked $40 billion to affordable housing, and B.C. has earmarked $6.9 billion. Greenhalgh believes that addressing the backlog of application approvals should be a priority for these funds.
“We desperately need new, modern rental units, and these projects need to be streamlined and given priority approvals. So many tenants here are stuck with year to year, or month to month, rentals in shoddy, unmanaged properties that are way past their prime. I think Vancouver can follow Toronto’s lead and create incentive programs for building purpose-built rental units. We’ve got to not only turn over but increase the supply of modern units with reliable lease terms.”
Vancouver is seeing a massive influx of new immigrants, and 80% of these become renters. Our policy makers need to work in good faith with developers like us at ENM to help get new purpose-built rental properties off the application pile and into construction.
