Will provincial “Transit Oriented Areas” gentrify the Downtown Eastside?

by Devin O’Leary

The provincial government says the city must allow 20-storey buildings within 200 metres of a Skytrain station, 12-storey buildings within 400 metres, and 8-storey buildings within 800 metres. If these requirements are higher than what is currently allowed in an area, the existing buildings become very attractive to developers wanting to demolish and build higher.

What concerns us is that privately-owned SROs might be sold off for redevelopment if the opportunity for big profit is there. The maps below show the two areas where we think tenants might be at risk. Gastown’s 14 private SROs with 757 rooms, and Strathcona’s 3 private SROs with 48 rooms will both by “upzoned” by this policy.

The city’s SRA by-law states that Council “may” require that each unit is replaced and offered to the previous tenant at the same amount they were paying before redevelopment. Or, the developer can pay the city $300k per unit and redevelop the building into whatever the zoning allows, which is condos and expensive rentals outside the DTES Oppenheimer District. Regardless, with a nearly 0% vacancy rate, current tenants would have nowhere to go if they were evicted. The new development would also likely add a significant number of market-rate units, continuing the pressure from higher-income residents to make the neighbourhood more hostile to lower-income residents.

We’ll keep an eye out for any news about this zoning and how it might impact the neighbourhood. Stay tuned.