It’s no secret that there is wide-spread conversation surrounding affordability in Vancouver and I believe it’s time that we all need to rethink what this word means to us. By choosing to live in a growing, world-class city which sees thousands of people wanting to move here every year, we all know it can’t remain the same. It’s not straight-forward and there are many opinions. But we need a place to start. Most recently this has meant improving process and design plans for identified areas of densification, and improving transportation infrastructure and public transportation. But is that enough? Many people have said no. So what’s the solution?

Earlier this year, the City of Vancouver listened to these concerns and subsequently created a new affordable housing task force comprised of 14 long-standing industry professionals and chaired by Mayor Gregor Robertson and former cabinet minister Olga Illich. The mandate of this task force is to examine conditions that exist in Vancouver which may act as barriers to the creation of affordable housing, understand the steps to protect existing affordable housing and to identify opportunities for increasing affordable housing.

‘As part of the work being done by the Mayor’s Task Force on housing affordability, re:THINK HOUSING, an open ideas competition, is being launched to generate a broader discussion of possibilities for Vancouver’s affordable housing crisis. Aimed at everyone who has an interest in affordable housing, from the general public, to designers, planners and architects, to philanthropists, non profits and financial institutions, the Ideas Competition seeks to create the space for provocative, bold new ideas that address Vancouver’s affordability challenge head-on. It’s a chance to get new perspective on how we build an affordable city in Vancouver, and to garner ideas and possibilities for neighbourhood belonging and better connections across the City.’ (Source: www.vancouver.ca/rethink).

So, this is everyone’s chance to put your great ideas of addressing affordability in front of the people who can really make a difference for the future Metro Vancouver. Aside from the $8,000 in prizes, it’s a chance for us to participate in constructive dialogue. It’s an opportunity for us to create real solutions - a word that we use every day but often lose sight of its meaning as we simply criticize. To every challenge is a solution if we take the time to really understand what the challenges truly are, and then equally as important, participate in creating plausible solutions. I believe that together we can establish a plan without entitlement, expectation or blame. And to anyone who’s ever participated in non-solution based conversations regarding affordability in Vancouver, I challenge you to dig deep for productive ideas and express them before the contest deadline of June 29th.

Cameron McNeill