Vancouver has scrapped a requirement for major development projects to abide by a local procurement policy, a surprise move that blindsided employment agencies and non-profits, and drew fierce criticism from opposition politicians.
At a meeting Wednesday, city council considered a suite of policy changes, both temporary and long-term, aimed at boosting the viability of real estate development during challenging market conditions.
One recommendation from city staff was to pause the “community benefits agreement” requirement, a policy implemented in 2018 that applies to the largest development projects exceeding 45,000 square metres. The policy aims to boost the local economy and promote equity by encouraging developers to, among other things, source 10 per cent of materials, goods and services from companies based in Vancouver, Metro Vancouver and B.C.
Staff recommended temporarily making such deals optional, pending a report back at a future date on revised community benefit policies for large developments.
That proposal set off alarm bells among non-profits and employment agencies who work to connect low-income people with some of the jobs created by major development projects. Representatives of some of these agencies urged council Wednesday not to pause the community benefits agreement, or CBA, requirement, saying it had made a tangible impact over the last seven years.
In fact, some of those groups have argued the CBA policy should be strengthened. Currently, it only requires developers on major projects to show they have made “best efforts” to achieve targets, such as the goal of filling 10 per cent of jobs with “equity seeking groups” and local residents. Some advocates would like to see an enforcement mechanism with enforceable standards.
Those groups were shocked when ABC Coun. Brian Montague proposed an amendment on the floor of council Wednesday to indefinitely shelve the requirement for CBAs on any projects. Montague told the meeting the CBA policy was “well-intentioned, but a barrier to new housing.”
Speaking after the vote, Montague said city staff have reported they have no way of measuring the policy’s economic impacts, so he believes it should be scrapped as a mandatory requirement.
“It’s a government policy that’s trying to solve a problem and creating a whole bunch of others while doing it. So let’s step out of the way and let them do it on an optional basis, because they’re saying they’re doing it anyway, so let’s just take out the bureaucracy and the bulls–t,” Montague said.
The policy is “complex and burdensome” and “looks great on paper … but it doesn’t actually accomplish anything additional,” Montague said.
The City of Vancouver actually commissioned a pair of third-party studies by University of B.C. academics to examine the CBA policy. One was published last year and another this year. The more recent study, dated
, made recommendations for improving the policy, but said it was “a critical tool for inclusive development but must evolve from a symbolic gesture into a practical instrument.”
The report found the CBA policy “generates significant economic benefits in Vancouver,” estimating that the new St. Paul’s Hospital produced $73 million in local economic impact through employment and procurement, attributing a further $122 million to the Ashley Mar co-op redevelopment.
The study’s authors interviewed private-sector developers with experience on CBA projects, non-profit and community representatives, and third-party agencies tasked with monitoring CBA compliance in projects.
The monitors argued that the existence of the CBA policy had stimulated measurable market growth among local and social enterprises, the report said.
“Developers expressed frustration and caution, preoccupied with costs, clarity and unintended consequences, though some acknowledged CBAs’ success when implemented effectively. Non-profits advocated for scaling up ambition and voiced concern over tokenism and rollback risks.”
Montague said Wednesday he hadn’t read the UBC report and didn’t remember receiving a copy of it, but assumed that city staff took its contents into consideration when producing their own reports and memos.
Sean Miles, director of the Binners’ Project, a local non-profit that provides low-barrier income opportunities like waste-sorting on CBA projects, said his organization was opposed to the temporary pause, and “blindsided” by the move to scrap it.
The Binners’ Project and other non-profit employment services providers have seen a “direct connection” between the implementation of the CBA policy in 2018 and an increase in hiring through these agencies, helping poor people get off social assistance, build careers and transform their lives.
“People weren’t knocking at our doors before it was required of them,” Miles said. “No developer will willingly go into an optional CBA.”
Vote Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh said after the vote that ABC was “walking away from a proven tool that creates local jobs, supports small businesses and strengthens our social enterprise sector.”
“The CBA has not hindered the delivery of housing, making this move a clearly ideological choice rather than one grounded in evidence,” Bligh said.
The move was surprising, Bligh said, because it’s not a key issue she’s heard about from developers, and disappointing because it’s “another ABC decision that is taking our city backwards.”
Steve Johnston, who co-authored Vancouver’s CBA policy while working for the city in 2017 and 2018, told council Wednesday the policy was “one of the most effective tools we have to ensure development benefits everyone, not just a few.”
Johnston, who now works in the local non-profit sector and chairs the Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association, said after the meeting he found council’s decision perplexing.
“In an era of economic uncertainty and the threat from tariffs, why would we as a city abandon a policy that champions small and medium enterprises, not just in Vancouver, but across the Lower Mainland and B.C.?” Johnston asked.
The Urban Development Institute, a development industry association which has lobbied for changes to the policy, welcomed council’s decision, said CEO Anne McMullin.
“We already follow the intent of the CBA, so to add it in a prescriptive way just adds costs,” McMullin said.
Montague added that equity-seeking groups will continue to be hired.
“They are generally a cheap labour force. Of course these companies are going to go to places like Mission Possible and Binners’ Project and hire individuals from those organizations. They’re going to continue to do that. Why would they not?”
