Gil Yaron, managing director, circular innovation of Light House, says wildfires in Summerland and in the Okanagan over the summer made it evident that there’s an opportunity to provide housing to communities in need.ETHAN CAIRNS/JOBFlocks
Vancouver is the demolition capital of Canada. About 90,000 detached homes will be torn down nationally over the next decade, and one third of those houses will be located in Metro Vancouver, according to a new report partly funded by the federal government.
The Vancouver region averaged 3,210 house demolitions each year between 2013 and 2023, the highest demolition rate out of seven cities studied, according to Vancouver-based Light House, a 20-year-old non-profit organization that advocates for regenerative building practices. The group advocates for the relocation of unwanted houses where possible, and it studied demolitions and relocation potential in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa.
Lawyer Gil Yaron, managing director, circular innovation of Light House, said Vancouver tops the list for demolitions because of rampant redevelopment over the years, fuelled by investors and also by municipal zoning policies. For example, Vancouver’s Broadway Plan – at 500 city blocks, the largest upzoning in the city’s history – would see the demolition of around 1,000 detached homes if fully realized, said Mr. Yaron.
“We’re seeing over 3,000 homes getting demolished every year, and a lot of those homes are less than 10 years old,” he said. “It’s crazy. And it’s completely wasteful. Not only are we wasting material, but the sad irony is that we are destroying housing at the same time as we have a housing crisis.”
A home slated for demolition, left, next to a new development along Cambie Street in Vancouver.ETHAN CAIRNS/JOBFlocks
The group estimates about 20 per cent of the houses are salvageable and could be relocated and repurposed. They also estimate that about 6,420 units of housing are needed by First Nations within 100 kilometres of Vancouver, as just one example of pressing demand.
“And the events that just happened with the wildfires in Summerland and in the Okanagan made it evident that there’s an opportunity, as well, to provide housing to communities that have been ravaged by catastrophic climate events,” added Mr. Yaron.
House relocation is not new. Nickel Bros has been moving houses in B.C. since 1956 and before then in Manitoba. The company lists houses for sale on its website, often including delivery and placement on a new foundation, with price adjustments for accessibility to the new site. Prices are as low as $52,000, and the houses range in size and location, anywhere in B.C. and Washington state.
Glyn Lewis, founder and chief executive officer of Renewal Development, said there are about 300 house moving companies around the world, and it’s a service that could be scaled up with the right policies in place. The demand is there, and so is the supply, as cities such as Vancouver upzone their detached housing stock and the houses come down to make way for density. He has been moving houses for the last few years, including the historic 1912 schoolhouse from Henry Hudson Elementary School in Kitsilano, which was moved to the Capilano Reserve in North Vancouver and is now a Squamish Nation learning centre.
House moving and home renewal efforts by Renewal Development in B.C.Renewal Development
Renewal Development contributed research to the Light House report because the company has relocated 27 houses in Metro Vancouver, including 10 houses for developer Wesgroup, who had assembled 60 houses for redevelopment in Port Moody. Those houses were put on barges and shipped to the Sunshine Coast to be turned into 17 below-market-price housing units. The company is now working in Los Angeles as well, helping repurpose houses for residents who lost their homes in wildfires last year. That city also enacted legislation to upzone much of its single-family housing, so he saw an opportunity.
Mr. Lewis said he can save developers substantial money by taking the houses off their hands, eliminating the cost of abatement and demolition.
He said there are two critical factors in considering whether it makes financial sense to move a house: the condition of the building and the complexity of the required move. He said modernizing the homes before they are shipped to their new location makes them more useful to the end user, who may or may not have access to trades and materials.
“I think Vancouver is unique because we are one of the demo capitals of the world on a per capita basis, so there is a ton of supply of good homes being demolished every year,” he said. “And because we are on the coast, we have access to non-urban and remote communities where it’s really challenging to build housing. We can mine them from Metro Vancouver and put them on a barge and repurpose them all the way to occupancy.”
Renewal Development has relocated 27 houses in Metro Vancouver, some of which were put on barges and shipped to the Sunshine Coast to be turned into below-market-price housing units.Renewal Development
Although the real estate market has slowed, the demand for good housing has not, he adds. And even in a slower market, there are far more houses being demolished than saved.
“It feels like trying to drink water out of a fire hose,” he said. “There is so much supply we couldn’t possibly address all of it and save all these homes, even with the slowdown in the marketplace.”
None of this is to say that cities such as Vancouver do not need new development, which is a key part of the B.C. economy, added Mr. Yaron.
“Let’s be real, house relocation is never going to replace conventional construction entirely. We’re talking about a few thousand homes,” he said.
“There is a finite number of homes that are going to come down. Home relocation has its limits. But we’re so far away from hitting that limit. I think it can co-exist and it doesn’t have to undermine the economy.”
Light House estimates about 20 per cent of the houses being torn down in Vancouver are salvageable and could be relocated and repurposed.Renewal Development
Vancouver economist Gary Lai wrote the book Poverty and the Unequal Society in Hong Kong and supports the idea of a 15-minute city in which residents can walk or ride to most of their daily basic necessities. It’s a concept that Vancouver should further embrace, he says. But he acknowledges that the cost would be demolitions.
“You’d have to take the long view on things,” he said. “Maybe urban demolition is acceptable as the cost for a variety of outcomes we want, like social and large green spaces, concentrations of small businesses that can thrive, and more schools and community centres.”
Mr. Lewis said he understands there is a housing crisis and there is a need for more housing and urban density to curb outward sprawl. He said the aim should be to either retain buildings where they are, relocate them, or deconstruct them, instead of sending them to the landfill.
“I understand why we are densifying urban areas, especially around transit corridors,” he said. “But the process to achieve this density shouldn’t be this wasteful. And municipalities and developers working with companies like us and others in the industry could be much more responsible about how we clear these sites.”