The changes in housing policy during the 1990s has been profound. With federal funds for non-market housing no longer available, the Province of British Columbia has attempted to involve municipalities to a greater extent in meeting the housing needs in their communities. However, this has proved to be an immense challenge for many municipalities. Nevertheless, many have reported that they use, or in the future will use, partnerships with other organizations to obtain more affordable housing in their communities. Specifically, partnering with non-profit housing organizations is seen as one means of achieving this. The non-profit organizations, too, find building more affordable housing a challenge, and are interested in working with municipalities where possible. The intent of this research, then, is to analyze the relationships between local governments in B.C. and non-profit societies, and identify some of the barriers that each party faces. The research also examines the roles of some of the other participants in affordable housing. For municipalities, the barriers faced by them to enter housing partnerships are great. A lack of resources, the absence of staff dedicated to housing issues, the lack of staff expertise required to analyze complex housing partnerships, and a lack of commitment on the part of politicians all contribute to the difficulties in having these agreements. The non-profit housing groups also face deterrents, such as small staff sizes, few resources, in some cases, little expertise in development, or ageing board members who do not wish to build new housing. These barriers, however, are not insurmountable, and recommendations are provided to overcome them. It is important to realize that although housing partnerships can be a very effective tool, they are just one of many that municipalities use to meet the housing needs in their communities. Ultimately, housing needs will best be met by having all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors working together towards common goals.

This thesis stems from three separate but interrelated questions on public housing projects: l) do families that are potential residents of public housing projects, living in the community at large, feel socially isolated, and is their sense of isolation alleviated by living in the project? 2) what are the effects on these families of living in a project with similar type (socioeconomic) of residents and the provision of common facilities? 3) what are the various forms of designed provisions that can be introduced to overcome social isolation and improve community integration? "Culloden Court," one of the public housing projects in Vancouver, has been chosen as the case study for this investigation. A series of unstructured interviews were conducted with: Group 1 - residents of the Culloden Court project; Group 2 - applicants requesting accommodation in public housing projects (future residents); and Group 3- the families living in the immediate neighbourhood of the Culloden Court project. Statistical data on the first two groups were derived from the files of the B. C. Housing Management. The questioning directed itself to finding (l) the personal relationship of the residents to each other, (2) how the different types of resident groups related to each other, (3) how the project residents and people from project neighbourhood area relate themselves to the housing and project facilities, and finally (4) the kinds of households that should be provided in the project. The findings clearly indicated that the future residents (Group 2) felt socially isolated in the community and were looking forward to living in projects, among a similar type of family. The response pattern also shows that project residents are generally more satisfied in the way they live now than the way they lived before moving into the project. The role of the recreation room was frequently mentioned in discussing satisfaction with the project. Social integration between the community residents and the neighbourhood of the project (Group 3) and project residents was found to be lacking, although project residents attach great importance to this aspect. It is hoped that this study may help in providing guidelines in designing future housing layouts for people who find themselves in similar situations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

The changes in housing policy during the 1990s has been profound. With federal funds for non-market housing no longer available, the Province of British Columbia has attempted to involve municipalities to a greater extent in meeting the housing needs in their communities. However, this has proved to be an immense challenge for many municipalities. Nevertheless, many have reported that they use, or in the future will use, partnerships with other organizations to obtain more affordable housing in their communities. Specifically, partnering with non-profit housing organizations is seen as one means of achieving this. The non-profit organizations, too, find building more affordable housing a challenge, and are interested in working with municipalities where possible. The intent of this research, then, is to analyze the relationships between local governments in B.C. and non-profit societies, and identify some of the barriers that each party faces. The research also examines the roles of some of the other participants in affordable housing. For municipalities, the barriers faced by them to enter housing partnerships are great. A lack of resources, the absence of staff dedicated to housing issues, the lack of staff expertise required to analyze complex housing partnerships, and a lack of commitment on the part of politicians all contribute to the difficulties in having these agreements. The non-profit housing groups also face deterrents, such as small staff sizes, few resources, in some cases, little expertise in development, or ageing board members who do not wish to build new housing. These barriers, however, are not insurmountable, and recommendations are provided to overcome them. It is important to realize that although housing partnerships can be a very effective tool, they are just one of many that municipalities use to meet the housing needs in their communities. Ultimately, housing needs will best be met by having all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors working together towards common goals. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The delivery of social housing is consistently plagued with problems ranging from reduced budget allocation, scarcity of adequately zoned lands and neighborhood opposition. Though limited, provincial funding is still available in BC. However, land acquisition remains a problem. Municipal governments are recognized to have the influence to increase the amount of land for affordable housing projects through the use of zoning by-laws. This thesis argues that the exclusionary character of the municipal zoning by-law does not encourage the creation of affordable housing units. Amendments to the Municipal Act under Bill 57 which allow BC municipalities to negotiate with developers to set aside some units as affordable through density bonusing and inclusionary zoning do not also guarantee that units can be created. Both strategies are dependent on the performance of the market place. This thesis explores an alternative form of affirmative zoning as a possible municipal initiative that can facilitate the creation of affordable housing units by reviewing governments' activities in affordable housing provision and by looking at Surrey as an illustrative case. The alternative form calls for the amendment of the zoning by-law to include a specific zone for affordable housing and pre-zoning of vacant municipal-owned lands for affordable housing. By adopting this strategy, a municipal government departs from its traditional reactor role. Surrey has demonstrated that in order to adopt affirmative zoning, a municipality has to be governed by a socially-committed council who should bring affordable housing provision as a visible component in the municipal agenda. The case also shows that the process has inherent constraints. The provincial government may prohibit councils from identifying affordable housing as a distinct zone while neighbourhoods can still mount strong opposition against the process. Senior governments may start to "dump" social housing projects in municipalities that have adopted this mechanism. With this mechanism in place, a municipal government may expect to accommodate additional population and consequently, an additional demand on municipal resources and services. However, the adoption of the strategy can provide municipal governments with an alternative option, enhance the planning process, foster public acceptance of affordable housing projects, and shorten the approval process. Two lessons are drawn from this thesis: • municipal resources can be re-directed to facilitate the process of creating affordable housing units and • planners and decision-makers should assume a progressive philosophy, leadership and social commitment to ensure that the strategy works.

The delivery of social housing is consistently plagued with problems ranging from reduced budget allocation, scarcity of adequately zoned lands and neighborhood opposition. Though limited, provincial funding is still available in BC. However, land acquisition remains a problem. Municipal governments are recognized to have the influence to increase the amount of land for affordable housing projects through the use of zoning by-laws. This thesis argues that the exclusionary character of the municipal zoning by-law does not encourage the creation of affordable housing units. Amendments to the Municipal Act under Bill 57 which allow BC municipalities to negotiate with developers to set aside some units as affordable through density bonusing and inclusionary zoning do not also guarantee that units can be created. Both strategies are dependent on the performance of the market place. This thesis explores an alternative form of affirmative zoning as a possible municipal initiative that can facilitate the creation of affordable housing units by reviewing governments' activities in affordable housing provision and by looking at Surrey as an illustrative case. The alternative form calls for the amendment of the zoning by-law to include a specific zone for affordable housing and pre-zoning of vacant municipal-owned lands for affordable housing. By adopting this strategy, a municipal government departs from its traditional reactor role. Surrey has demonstrated that in order to adopt affirmative zoning, a municipality has to be governed by a socially-committed council who should bring affordable housing provision as a visible component in the municipal agenda. The case also shows that the process has inherent constraints. The provincial government may prohibit councils from identifying affordable housing as a distinct zone while neighbourhoods can still mount strong opposition against the process. Senior governments may start to "dump" social housing projects in municipalities that have adopted this mechanism. With this mechanism in place, a municipal government may expect to accommodate additional population and consequently, an additional demand on municipal resources and services. However, the adoption of the strategy can provide municipal governments with an alternative option, enhance the planning process, foster public acceptance of affordable housing projects, and shorten the approval process. Two lessons are drawn from this thesis: • municipal resources can be re-directed to facilitate the process of creating affordable housing units and • planners and decision-makers should assume a progressive philosophy, leadership and social commitment to ensure that the strategy works. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate