Maple Ridge council not promoting rent-to-own schemes

The City of Maple Ridge will ensure that rent-to-own schemes for apartment and townhouses are an option for developers in the city.

However, city councillors said it should be up to the builders and senior government to oversee these purchasing options, without the city’s direct involvement.

Counc. Ahmed Yousef brought the issue to the council table, and proposed a motion that the city staff ensure its policies don’t throw up barriers to rent-to-own schemes. He said prohibitive housing costs and the high rate of inflation leave first-time home buyers “severely disadvantaged.”

“The main reason why I bring this forward, is to ensure our policies do not prevent builders and developers from moving forward with this program,” he said. “My goal and intent is to permit and encourage this type of program in our municipality.”

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Yousef used a vehicle lease as a comparison – families would pay their rent for a period of time, with funds accumulating to be used for an eventual down payment. He noted various schemes of this type have been done in Vancouver and Port Moody.

Yousef said discussions with builders, realtors and consumers show they welcome the idea. Even professionals and people with above-average incomes find it challenging to save for a down payment in the present climate, he said. And he suggested such plans be limited to first-time home buyers and Canadian citizens, and focus on young families struggling to buy.

Director of planning Chuck Goddard said the city housing action plan and social housing policies would not prohibit rent-to-own, and there have been small versions of rent-to-own over the years, but said staff could conduct the review.

“I find the biggest obstacle to them is really uptake by private industry to really offer those sort of options,” said Goddard.

Coun. Chelsa Meadus and other councillors said city staff should focus their time on regulations allowing more secondary suites, to provide more rental stock, and leave rent-to-own schemes to senior governments.

Yousef said after the meeting he was shocked that councillors were not more receptive, and he would like to see city hall lobby senior governments for rent-to-own programs and find ways to offer developers incentives.

“I hope the next council, regardless of who is at the table, will take a closer look at this,” he said.

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