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REAL ESTATE
REAL ESTATE Would-be city councillor wants to manage growth
by Carlito Pablo
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Vancouver realtor and home builder Param Nijjar’s name will be on the ballot for city council as part of this year’s October 15 municipal election.
Nijjar is running under the TEAM for a Livable Vancouver banner, the party of councillor and mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick.
In an interview, Nijjar explained his party’s position about growth in the city.
“TEAM is not antidevelopment,” Nijjar told the Straight by phone.
That said, there is a distinction to be made. “TEAM believes in managing growth as opposed to promoting growth,” Nijjar said.
He noted that city hall’s reliance on fees from development projects has led to a “growth-promotion model”. “That’s unsustainable. That’s bad for home buyers, bad for tenants, bad for developers.”
The city collects a lot of money from the development industry. City hall gets community amenity contributions (CACs), development cost levies (DCLs), and density bonus zoning contributions (DBZs).
To illustrate, a June 11, 2021 city staff report to council stated that $115 million in DCLs were paid by developers in 2020. The report also said that DCL receipts from 2011 to 2022 represent an average of 8.7 million square feet of developments annually.
Moreover, the DCL program has generated a total of $1.1 billion, including accrued interest from 1993 to 2020.
CACs are in-kind or cash contributions made by property developers in exchange for rezoning properties for higher densities. A separate April 25, 2022 city staff report notes that the city collected a total of $47 million in 2021 in cash-in-lieu CAC payments and density bonus contributions. Broken down, this came out to $38 million in cash from CACs and $9 million in cash from density bonusing.
Nijjar noted that TEAM mayoral candidate Hardwick’s background in urban geography and land economics is reflected in her council track record.
“Her voting position underscores the failed business model of growth promotion and CAC-revenue addiction at city hall,” he said.
On June 22 this year, Hardwick voted against the Broadway Plan, arguing that it would make Vancouver less livable. She said the plan, which will pave the way for more development in four city neighbourhoods, will encourage land speculation, increase rent, boost housing prices, and lead to the eviction of thousands of tenants.
Hardwick noted that real-estate companies have started advertising low-rise buildings as future sites for high-rises in the area.
She pointed out that the neighbourhoods along and near Broadway provide 19,600 rental units, representing 25 percent of the city’s total inventory.
In addition, the area is home to 4,000 nonmarket units, composed of social, supportive, and co-op housing.
Nijjar also said that Hardwick has been pushing for “evidence-based decisionmaking rather than the aspirational numbers used by staff”.
In 2020, Hardwick called for a recalibration of the city’s housing targets in a motion. The Vancouver Housing Strategy provides for a goal of 72,000 new homes between 2018 and 2027.
However, Hardwick noted that the historical growth in the city’s population requires only the building of about 30,000 additional homes in the same 10-year period.
Nijjar trained as a software engineer at UBC, so he should know the value of data. He said that the city needs a housing dashboard that will provide online information to the public and policymakers in a transparent way. The information will include, among other data, existing homes, zoning capacity, and development permits that are in the pipeline.
Nijjar also said that Hardwick “values neighbourhood input and decades of careful community planning work”. He said there is demand for homes, and TEAM seeks to “provide forms of housing that are done in a nice, organic, democratic fashion that respects official community plans”.
It’s an approach “where existing communities don’t have to be ripped out to plant high-rise buildings on them”.
“Don’t get me wrong: there’s a place for high-rise towers as well,” Nijjar explained. “If the neighbourhood wants high-rise towers and there’s genuine meaningful input from the neighbourhood, great, all the power for them.”
Nijjar has been a realtor since 2007; he ventured into home building a few years later. One of his first projects was a laneway house at his parents’ home in East Vancouver.
“Having been a home builder and a realtor, I’ve dealt with issues firsthand,” he said.
Nijjar said that he has demonstrated his capacity to tackle “high-stress situations” in his professions—which, he noted, will serve him well as a city councillor.
“That’s thanks to my yoga practise,” Nijjar noted.
Nijjar, now a father to a young boy, came to Canada from India with his parents when he was 16.
He said he is running with a team that represents a wide selection of skills and expertise.
The TEAM slate for council also includes Cleta Brown, Sean Nardi, Grace Quan, Stephen Roberts, and Bill Tieleman. Running for park board with TEAM are Kathleen Larsen, Michelle Mollineaux, James Buckshon, and Patrick Audley. g
Realtor and home builder Param Nijjar will be running for city council with TEAM for a Livable Vancouver in the October 15 municipal election. He says TEAM wants to manage city growth.
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– City council candidate Param Nijjar
