Affordable-homes advocate Kishone Roy makes case for scrapping public hearings for social housing projects

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      There's been a roaring debate over social media on the wisdom of allowing public hearings on six-storey social housing projects in midrise apartment zones.

      According to the City of Vancouver, about 50,000 renter households pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

      Social housing is created to offer affordable housing to some tenants in this situation.

      One of those advocating in favour of keeping public hearings has been lobbyist and communications consultant Bill Tieleman.

      But Tieleman, a former columnist with 24 hours and the Georgia Straight, has received a fair amount of pushback on social media over his position.

      It's become a hot issue because of a Vancouver city staff proposal to amend the zoning and development bylaw to allow six-storey social-housing projects in midrise apartment zoning districts (RM-3A, RM-4, and RM-4N).

      This map shows the location of the midrise apartment zones in the city.

      If council gives this the green light on Tuesday (April 20), it will apply to projects in which 100 percent of the residential floor area is social housing or social housing in conjunction with a childcare facility.

      So far, the city has received 46 written responses from the public, of which 30 were opposed.

      Housing advocate Kishone Roy is among those who support the staff proposal.

      That's because Roy, the former CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association, thinks that public hearings stack the deck against the underprivileged who need this housing.

      Roy, was recently featured in a Georgia Straight article by Carlito Pablo.

      You can read Roy's arguments below, which were made in a Twitter thread.

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