Rental Housing Initiatives

Inclusionary Housing Policy

The Inclusionary Housing Policy, endorsed by Council on December 9, 2019, has been developed to guide rezoning processes for strata and mixed-use residential development city-wide.

The policy, which is now in effect, provides guidance to property owners on the City’s expectation for the delivery, ownership and management of affordable rental housing required as a condition of rezoning and includes three options for applicants to choose from:

Option 1 – Applications requesting Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment and/or exceeding Density Bonus Policy, requires a minimum of 20% of total units or floor area as built affordable rental units.

Option 2 – Applications within OCP / Density Bonus Limits, requires a minimum of 5% of total units as built non-market rental units.

Option 3 – Applications within OCP / Density Bonus Limits, requires a minimum of 10% of total units as below-market rental units.

Other provisions, including ownership and management requirements, rent amounts, unit size and mix, and incentives are outlined in the policy.

Click here to access the Inclusionary Housing Policy.

draft Rental replacement policy

The Draft Rental Replacement Policy has been developed to ensure that redevelopment of older purpose-built market rental buildings does not lead to loss of affordable rental housing thereby displacing existing tenants and to add to the supply of rental and below-market rental in New Westminster. 
 
On January 14, 2019, Council directed staff to apply the Draft Rental Replacement Policy as an interim guideline to move applications under Pre-Application and/ or initial Formal Application Review forward for consideration.  
 
The draft policy applies to all existing purpose-built market rental housing sites where redevelopment will remove more than 6 rental units. Applicants seeking rezoning are expected to provide 100% of the secure market rental units including 10% of total units secured as below-market rental units.
 

Click here to access the Draft Rental Replacement Policy.
 

if you are looking for information about tenant protections, please click here
 

Resources