EDITORS NOTE: This letter was also sent to Michael White, UBC Associate VP, Campus & Community Planning, Aubrey Kelly, President and CEO of UBC Properties Trust, Siobhan Murphy, Director of UBC Housing, Immigration and Relocation Services, and UNA CAO Paul Thorkelsson.
In 2023, the UBC Board of Governors approved a comprehensive Housing Action Plan in conjunction with its updated Land Use Plan. Among other measures, the Housing Action Plan set University policy for the provision of attainable and affordable rental housing for faculty, staff, students, and local employees. With the opening of hundreds of new rental housing units since 2023, managed by UBC Properties Trust, UBC is on its way to meeting the Housing Action Plan’s commitment to rental housing constituting up to 40 per cent of new neighbourhood housing. But progress towards affordable rental housing, available to faculty, staff, and local employees, has stalled. We are writing to the Board of Governors, UBC, and UBC Properties Trust to urge you to renew your efforts to meet UBC’s housing affordability commitments.
The Housing Action Plan (HAP) commits to offering faculty and staff housing for approximately 25 per cent below average rents for equivalent units on Vancouver’s West Side (which is already the most expensive area to rent in the Vancouver area, outside the downtown core). The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)’s rental market report for 2025 notes rising vacancy rates for Vancouver and “a softening rental market” for the region. UBC faculty/staff rents have not adjusted to reflect the changing rental market in Vancouver. Most 2-bedroom UBC apartments are now priced over the West Side average ($2,503-$2,907), not at 25 per cent below market rents.
UBC has joined the city and province in seeking to expand the supply of rentals in one of Canada’s least affordable regions. The goal is to moderate rents. UBC subsidizes faculty/staff rentals in order to attract and retain faculty and staff, as well as connect employees and their families to the UBC community. Correspondingly, UBC should adjust its rents downward to reflect changing market conditions and its commitments to its faculty and staff.
During this new era of rising rental availability and moderating rents, UBC should also move ahead on the Housing Action Plan’s commitments to workforce housing. Policy 4 of the HAP pledges UBC to “expand eligibility [for university rentals] to non-UBC on-campus employees (e.g., retail workers, University Neighbourhoods Association staff, Vancouver School Board staff, and hospital employees).” Given UBC’s location, it can be difficult to attract and retain non-university employees, who often face long commutes and/or prohibitively high housing prices. The UNA acknowledges the recent introduction of workforce housing eligibility in the new Symphony building, and we urge UBC to continue implementing this important Housing Action Plan commitment throughout its rental housing portfolio.
Thank you for your part in adopting the Housing Action Plan’s visionary commitments to affordable and attainable housing for employees of the University and of local non-university businesses and institutions. We look forward to UBC’s continuing efforts to implement the Housing Action Plan’s rental housing vision for the UBC neighbourhoods. This will ensure that UBC attracts and retains faculty and staff, as well as retail and service workers, who wish to live near their workplace, in our vibrant university neighbourhoods.
EAGLE GLASSHEIM IS THE CHAIR OF THE UNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND THE CAMPUS RESIDENT’S NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL COMMITTEE. HE IS ALSO A PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT UBC.