vancouver-woman-narrowly-misses-being-hit-by-falling-window-downtown
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Vancouver woman narrowly misses being hit by falling window downtown

ByEmma Crawford

Posted October 13, 2024 2:19 pm. Last Updated October 13, 2024 5:20 pm. Editor’s note: a previous version of this story had said a window had fallen from the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. The window had in fact fallen from the Fairmont Pacific Rim Estates — a residential building near the hotel. A Vancouver woman says she was seconds away from being hit by a glass window that fell outside a downtown building and smashed onto the sidewalk. Val Jones says she was at the corner of Burrard and West Cordova street around 2 p.m. Saturday when she heard a crash behind her. “At the same time as I looked back, I started running forwards because I can see glass just shattering about five feet behind me,” said Jones. Jones says she was initally confused and then got an adrenaline rush later at a coffee shop. She says there were two families with children nearby, and the glass may have also damaged a nearby car. “Afterwards, I went into the hotel and I actually told the concierge and he had no idea anything had just happened either.” Jones says this is one of her fears while living in the city and suspects if she had waited two extra seconds, she could have been hit by the window. She now wants answers about how this could have happened. “I would love to know how a window falls out of a hotel, especially a hotel that’s been there for quiet some time,” said Jones. “This is obviously something that is a public saftey concern.” Kerrie Bowders, director of marketing and communications for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, confirms the glass fell from the Fairmont Pacific Rim Estates and says nobody was hurt. 1130 NewsRadio has reached out to the building’s management for comment.

new-report-outlines-impact-a-large-earthquake-could-have-on-vancouver
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Vancouver large earthquake potential impact

ByEmma Crawford

Posted November 7, 2024 10:39 pm. Last Updated November 7, 2024 10:44 pm. A new report from the City of Vancouver and Natural Resources Canada has outlined how a 7.2-magnitude earthquake could impact Vancouver, and it highlights six neighborhoods in high-risk areas. In the report, Vancouver’s West End, Yaletown, the Downtown Eastside, Kitsilano, Fairview, and Mount Pleasant have the highest risk of damage from a large earthquake. The report also stated that if a large earthquake centred at the Georgia Strait were to occur, there would be over 1,300 casualties and over 6,000 privately owned buildings that would be damaged in Vancouver. The co-author of the report says the economic impact on the city could be more than $17 billion, with a $30 billion loss provincewide. “If we don’t fix these buildings, then when an earthquake happens, people are going to be out of those houses, those homes, and those buildings,” said Dr. Tiegan Hobbs, a seismic risk scientist with Natural Resources Canada. “Everybody will be out all at once while we have to rebuild everything, as opposed to these programs where we might have to move people out to fix a building but we can do it in stages and work towards it slowly for many years or even decades.” Hobbs said in the report that three problematic building types should take priority with the retrofitting process: older concrete highrises in the West End and downtown, and older brick and wood residential buildings. While this retrofitting process is still in the works, Vancouver City Coun. Pete Fry says it will be important to secure funding from the provincial and federal governments as they map out a seismic risk-reduction strategy in the future. “On receipt of the report, the next step would be to come up with a plan for how we can approach these risks in a sensible and measured way, recognizing that we already do have a crisis with housing and affordability. This is not an inexpensive undertaking, and if we want to replace these high-risk seismic buildings, it is going to cost a lot of money, and it’s going to take some time,” Fry said. “It’s a complicated undertaking, and I hope that this also informs conversations not just here in the city of Vancouver but with the region, the province, and of course the federal government, because it is going to need an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, especially when it comes to private property.” Hobbs says that while the numbers the report has outlined are “doom and gloom,” the odds of a large earthquake hitting the city within the next 50 years is around 5 per cent. This report will be brought to Vancouver City Council in their next meeting on Tuesday.

bc.-real-estate-market-building-momentum-into-2025:-association
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B.C. real estate market building momentum into 2025

ByCharlie Carey

Posted November 6, 2024 7:52 am. The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) says 2025 will see a big rebound in home sales. The association expects sales will jump by more than 13 per cent next year following a flat 2024. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE! “Following two pretty challenging years for sales, it looks like markets across BC are starting to build momentum,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “In addition to lower mortgage rates, new policy changes allowing longer amortization for first-time homebuyers and increased mortgage insurance caps will provide a boost to market activity.”  The association also forecasts the average sale price of a home will rise next year, provincially by about three per cent, but by only one per cent locally. For Vancouver, the BCREA is forecasting an average listing price in the fall of 2025 to be around $1.3 million, with the average listing in the Fraser Valley to be around $1.05 million.

millennials,-gen-z-set-to-buy-homes-within-five-years-despite-tough-canadian-economy:-report
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Millennials, Gen Z to buy homes within five years despite tough Canadian economy

ByAasthapandeykanaan

Posted October 29, 2024 10:51 pm. Most people think of the words “expensive,” “out of reach,” or even “impossible” when it comes to the younger generations buying homes in Vancouver. While some of those attitudes may hold true, more than half of Canadian millennials and Gen Z, according to a new Scotiabank report, are still set on buying homes in the next five years despite the high cost of living. “Within my friend group, it’s kind of a big deal right now, kind of an urgency to be able to buy a house,” a Vancouver resident told CityNews Vancouver. “A few of my friends already have purchased but we definitely have a couple who, they just got engaged and they’re expecting, and now it’s like, are we going to be able to? That’s definitely on their radar.” Another Vancouverite says they are determined to find a home as a couple but “at some point financially, we might have to choose to go somewhere else, outside of Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, something that we can afford.” The report from Scotiabank says in B.C. across all age groups 39 per cent of all respondents were looking to buy a home within five years which is about on track with the rest of the country at 42 per cent. While fewer younger Canadians own a home today compared to three years ago, realtor Kit Sorongon tells CityNews Vancouver that he’s not surprised by their unwavering determination to buy. “They’re waiting for the opportunity to be able to be qualified and be able to afford, and that’s why their prediction of the next five years, that’s actually very, very accurate, and very realistic,” Sorongon said. The report says more than half of Millennials and Gen Zeds find the economy is pushing back their home-buying plans, but the demand for homeownership is still strong. Sorongon says he expects more younger clients to qualify for a mortgage because the Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point last week. “Having that already intimate desire to own a property with all the signs showing up, it gives them the optimism to be able to purchase again,” he said. In B.C., the number of homeowners remained steady at 59 per cent this year, while fewer are renting and more are living with family.

bc-ferries-to-add-5-new-vessels-by-2031
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BC Ferries to add 5 new vessels by 2031

ByCharles Brockman

Posted September 16, 2024 3:46 pm. BC Ferries says it’s going ahead with the next steps in procuring five new major vessels needed on its busiest routes between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. The company says the new vessels will help it to address projected population growth, replace aging vessels, and meet customer expectations. CEO Nicolas Jimenez tells 1130 NewsRadio that the Ferry Commissioner still has to approve the designs, but they’re hoping to get the first of the five new vessels in the water by 2029 — with all of them operating by 2031. “What we would see is essentially a ship deployed about every six months. It takes a bit of time to bring a new ship into service. So it’s not like five show up day 1, and day 2 you take out five or four old ships. You need time to absorb that into your system,” Jimenez explained. For now, the company says, it’s going to work on maintenance to extend the operational life of two current vessels — the Queen of Surrey and the Queen of Oak Bay. The C-class vessels serve routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland, and BC Ferries has said its current fleet is aging. Last week, BC Ferries had to pull its ship, the Queen of New Westminster, out of service for six months after a propeller fell off the vessel into the sea. The company says the new fleet will help meet the record-breaking demand it saw this summer, with over 8,040,000 passengers and over 3,150,000 vehicles transported between June 1 and Aug. 31. “[We’re] one of the few transportation services, I think, in North America that have surpassed our pre-COVID high. So definitely we’re feeling the pressures and we’re going to continue to be there,” said Jimenez. Ed Hooper, the company’s executive director of shipbuilding says the five new ferries will be more environmentally friendly than its older ships. “These new vessels will be quieter and cleaner than the vessels they replace, allowing us to achieve a significant reduction in our corporate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Hooper. BC Ferries says it needs seven new vessels in total, but will look at adding in the remaining two ships later on.

21-bc.-municipalities-granted-housing-legislation-extensions-after-all
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21 B.C. municipalities granted housing legislation extensions after all

ByCharles Brockman

Posted September 16, 2024 4:06 pm. Last Updated September 16, 2024 4:07 pm. The provincial government announced Monday it’s granted extensions to 21 municipalities that were having trouble meeting the deadline for adopting multi-unit housing legislation. The deadline was designed to force local governments to comply with the new provincial small-scale, multi-unit housing (SSMUH) legislation. In a release Monday, the province says it is now giving 21 communities more time. Where the SSMUH requirements apply, the following governments have been granted an extension for all zones: Northern Rockies Regional Municipality has been given until Dec. 31, 2024. Wells has been given until Dec. 31, 2024. City of North Vancouver has been given until June 1, 2025. Coquitlam has been given until June 30, 2025. Fraser Valley Regional District has been given until Dec. 31, 2025. Peace River Regional District has been given until Dec. 31, 2026. Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality has been given until June 30, 2027. Greenwood has been given until March 31, 2028. Osoyoos has been given until Dec. 31, 2029. Kitimat has been given until Dec. 31, 2030. Others have amended their bylaws for most areas of their community, the province says, but were granted an extension for certain areas and neighbourhoods where infrastructure upgrades are needed or underway, including: The Lougheed/Shaughnessy block in Port Coquitlam has been given until Dec. 31, 2025. Various areas within the Sunshine Coast Regional District have been given until Dec. 31, 2025. The 4th Avenue extension in Ladysmith has been given until Dec. 30, 2026. The Queensborough neighbourhood in New Westminster has been given until May 4, 2029. The Silver Creek and East Kawkawa Lake areas of Hope have been given until Dec. 30, 2030. Electoral Areas B, C, E and F in the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District have been given until Dec. 30, 2030. The Malone Road subdivision, Lot 5 Holland Creek, Forest Field Area, and south areas of Ladysmith have been given until Dec. 30, 2030. The Okanagan Falls and Faulder and Heritage Hills areas in the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District have been given until Dec. 30, 2030. Steveston in Richmond has been given until Dec. 30, 2030. Various areas in Kamloops, including the Rayleigh Waterworks District have been given until Dec. 31 2030. Part of the Proper neighbourhood and surrounding Hazel Park in Chilliwack have been given until Dec. 31, 2030. The Western Foreshore and Kye Bay areas of Comox have been given until Dec. 31, 2030. The province says seven requests for extensions from Ladysmith, Langley, Maple Ridge, the Mount Waddington Regional District, the Nanaimo Regional District, Sooke and View Royal were declined. “Communities that did not receive an extension have 90 days from the date they were first notified to adopt the new bylaws.” The extensions are frustrating District of West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager after Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon refused to grant West Vancouver an extension just weeks ago. “[I’m] very disappointed that they wouldn’t extend the same courtesy,” Sager told 1130 NewsRadio Monday. Sager thinks the government is pulling back now because the election is coming up and the legislation has seen pushback from mayors across the province. After meeting with the Union of BC Municipalities Monday, Sager says his city is not alone, feeling as though the housing ministry could have handled the legislation better. “I don’t think there’s a single mayor that is even remotely happy with the way this has been rolled out. They’re encroaching on municipal authority. Municipal responsibility is why we offer ourselves for public service, to do proper long-term planning that works in the community, to make sure that we have the proper infrastructure to service whatever is built — make sure that the simple things like the sewer pipes and the wire pipes are adequate. And so this one-size-fits-all dictated out of Victoria just seems to me and my council to be really offside,” said Sager. —With files from Srushti Gangdev.

whats-happening-with-the-massey-tunnel-replacement?-this-delta-councillor-wants-to-know
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Whats happening with the Massey Tunnel replacement? This Delta councillor wants to know

ByCharlie Carey

Posted September 19, 2024 7:55 am. Commuters heading to the Massey Tunnel can expect another day of gridlock with no word on how the replacement project is going. Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger isn’t happy, as the B.C. government hasn’t provided much of an update on the replacement project. Kruger’s wondering what’s going on. “We should have had a new crossing completed over two years ago … to relieve what is the biggest bottleneck in Metro Vancouver — over 100,000 commuters going through that crossing every day, stuck in traffic,” he told 1130 NewsRadio. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE! Instead, Kruger says they’ve been given no information at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention, currently underway in downtown Vancouver. “There’s been no update to timelines or budget since pre covid. We are seeing almost every major multibillion-dollar infrastructure project go over time and over budget right now,” he explained. “I’m very concerned about the ability to deliver this project at the quote of $4.1 billion from a number of years ago, and I’m also increasingly concerned about meeting that 2030 deadline when we still don’t have an improved environmental assessment.” He points to what’s happened with other major projects like the North Shore Waste Water Treatment plant and the new Pattullo Bridge. Both have seen their price explode by billions of dollars, and delays in when the work is supposed to be done. “Building a tunnel is complex. You have to build it in segments on dry land and then plunk massive concrete tubes into the middle of the Fraser River estuary, so we still have an improved environmental assessment on the project and I’m also concerned about short and long-term impacts of one of our best regional parks in Metro Vancouver.” He says if the NDP had stuck with the project the then-BC Liberal government was building, people would already be using the new bridge. Kruger is crossing his fingers that Eby will give civic politicians an update at Thursday’s Union of BC Municipalities Convention.

bc.-announces-new-clean-energy-building-rebates
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B.C. announces new clean energy building rebates

ByCharlie Carey

Posted September 18, 2024 7:38 am. A new program aimed at supporting people and communities to make the switch to clean energy and save on their energy bills was announced by the B.C. government Tuesday. Minister of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne explained the ministry is launching the Clean BC Multi-Unit Residential Building Retrofit Program in partnership with BC Hydro. She says this program will provide rebates and energy coaching to business owners, strata councils, and equity co-op boards to undertake whole-building retrofits. “This includes everything from heat pumps to LED lighting, electrical upgrades, to better windows and ventilation,” she said. “Rebate amounts will depend on what retrofits and upgrades the building requires.” Osborne says one example could be that a building is switching from fossil fuel heating to electric heat pumps and may then receive $3,000 per heat pump installed. The minister says retrofitting buildings to make them cleaner is complex, and this program provides one-on-one advice and energy coaching to support building owners and managers in navigating the process. The ministry expects that a typical 65-unit building could save as much as $16,250 per year, or $250 per year per suite, after switching from central gas heating to in-suite heat pumps. “Making smart choices about how we use clean electricity has been core to our business for over 35 years,” said Chris O’Riley, president and CEO of BC Hydro. “Energy-efficiency programs defer the need for additional capital infrastructure, helping to keep rates affordable and offer additional flexibility to our electricity system. But equally important, programs like this one and the many others we offer provide our customers with the opportunity to save energy and money.”

host-first-nations,-bc.-govt-to-build-2,600-below-market-homes-in-vancouver
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Host First Nations, B.C. government to build 2,600 below-market homes in Vancouver

ByCharlie Carey

Posted September 19, 2024 9:39 am. Last Updated September 19, 2024 10:24 am. A new housing project on the lands of the  xʷməθkʷəy̓əm  (Musqueam),  Sḵwx̱wú7mesh  (Squamish), and  səlilwətaɬ  (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations will create 2,600 new affordable homes. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE! The homes will be at Heather Lands, an 8.5-hectare (21-acre) lot between West 33rd and West 37th avenues on Heather Street, just east of Queen Elizabeth Park. The province says buyers will be able to purchase the homes at 60 per cent of market value — with 40 per cent of the cost covered by provincial financing. In an announcement Thursday, Premier David Eby explained the financing agreement isn’t a grant or a subsidy, it’s a loan from the province. “The 40 per cent is repaid at the end of 25 years, or when the owner sells. … What we have created here, together, is a financing tool that protects taxpayers, that minimizes impact on public budgets, and yet, at the same time, delivers affordable housing now,” Eby explained. “And when the loan is paid back by the homeowner, [it] protects affordability in the future,” he added. Eby shared that the homes will be sold as 99-year strata-leaseholds with Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. “The unit prices will be determined at the time they actually go up for sale, but if they were for sale today, under current market conditions, a studio apartment on the site would sell for $620,000. Under this program we’re announcing today, that same studio apartment will sell for $370,000,” he said. “On this site today, the market price for a two-bedroom condo is $1.3 million. Under this program that we’re announcing today, that will be $780,000.” Eby added priority will be given to first homebuyers, and there will be “strict” criteria around income and asset ceilings for would-be purchasers. “I want to assure you that we will have strict rules and screening measures in place, and anyone who thinks that they can game the system when we detect that, there will be serious consequences.” The province says that to cover the 40 per cent of purchase prices, it will need to finance an estimated $670 million. If purchasers would like to buy out the remaining 40 per cent of the value of the home, Eby shared owners are able to do just that, “but if they exit in advance of 25 years, then they need to pay the appreciation in the value of the property as well.” “Say property values go up, they would have to pay that share of the government’s appreciation of the property as well. And say, property values go down, they would still have to pay the full amount back to the government that was loaned at the first instance,” he added. More to come.

median-luxury-home-price-in-vancouver-down-1.8-per-cent-from-2023:-report
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Median luxury home price in Vancouver down 1.8 per cent from 2023: report

ByCharles Brockman

Posted September 19, 2024 10:46 am. Vancouver’s luxury home market is still soft, according to the latest report from Royal LePage, but that doesn’t mean prices are dropping. The real estate group says sales in the segment are down almost 40 per cent through the first eight months of the year, compared to the same time last year. But prices barely fell — by less than two per cent — to a little under $7 million. The report considers $ 5.5 million to be the entry-level price for Vancouver’s luxury market. It says from January to the end of August, the median luxury home price in Vancouver was $6,975,000 — the highest in the country. For comparison, the median in Toronto over the same period was $5,820,000. “In Vancouver’s luxury segment, it seems everyone is trying to time the bottom of the market. As such, we’ve seen a slowdown in activity of late. After all, buyers love to buy when others are buying,” said a sales representative for the company. He says a “pullback” in Vancouver’s luxury market began about eight years ago, and activity has never fully rebounded. “The implementation of the 2023 foreign buyer ban, which has limited residential real estate purchases by non-Canadians, has reduced demand, although it has not had a material impact on prices,” he added. Royal Lepage expects moderate activity levels through the fall, despite the likelihood of additional interest rate cuts.