Public Policy and Gentrification in the Grandview Woodland Neighbourhood of Vancouver, B.C
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Public Policy and Gentrification in the Grandview Woodland Neighbourhood of Vancouver, B.C. by Paul Kasman B.A., University of Western Ontario, 2007 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION in the School of Public Administration Paul Kasman, 2015 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Public Policy and Gentrification in the Grandview Woodland Neighbourhood of Vancouver, B.C. by Paul Kasman B.A., University of Western Ontario, 2007 Supervisory Committee Dr. Kimberly Speers, School of Public Administration Supervisor Dr. Lynne Siemens, School of Public Administration Co-Supervisor iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Kimberly Speers, School of Public Administration Supervisor Dr. Lynne Siemens, School of Public Administration Co-Supervisor The Grandview Woodland local area of Vancouver, British Columbia, is an area in transition. Retail, demographic, residential occupancy, and changes to built structures indicate that gentrification has escalated in the past seven years. Long standing impediments to gentrification, including industrial manufacturing, social housing, and crime, are not deterring change in this area to the extent they once did. This thesis examines how public policy has affected these changes in Grandview Woodland. Public policies embodied in laws and regulations have the capacity to either encourage or dissuade gentrification; however, other variables also influence gentrification making it difficult to determine the importance and influence of public policy in the process. This thesis uses semi-structured interviews and a document review in a case study of Grandview Woodland, to gain a better understanding of how public policies can influence gentrification in a local area where gentrification was previously impeded. The findings from this study suggest that public policies can have a substantial, but not autonomous, effect on gentrification in such an area. In Grandview Woodland, policy makers facilitate gentrification through city-wide and province-wide policies, including zoning changes, the Strata Title Act, and the Residential Tenancy Act. While these public policies have streamlined the advance of gentrification in Grandview Woodland, the iv catalysts for gentrification are the wider national trend of increased popularity of inner- city living, and the middle class moving eastwards in search of affordable homes in response to the massive property value increases in Vancouver’s West Side. v Table of Contents Supervisory Committee .................................................................................................. ii Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................v List of Tables................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgments ...........................................................................................................x Dedication ..................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1.0. Introduction ................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................1 1.2 Background and Historical Context ......................................................................3 1.2.1 Industrial Manufacturing .................................................................................3 1.2.2 Social Housing ................................................................................................4 1.2.3 Levels of Crime ...............................................................................................4 1.2.4 Recent Signs of Gentrification in Grandview Woodland ..................................5 1.2.5 The Grandview Woodland Community Plan..................................................6 1.3 Research Question & Hypothesis .........................................................................8 1.4 Purpose and Importance of Study .........................................................................9 1.5 Research Design and Theoretical Framework ................................................... 10 1.6 Organization of Thesis ....................................................................................... 11 1.7 Conceptualization of Terms ............................................................................... 11 Chapter 2.0. Literature Review ...................................................................................... 14 2.1 Origins of Gentrification .................................................................................. 15 2.2 Definition of Gentrification ............................................................................. 15 2.3 Support for Gentrification ................................................................................ 17 2.4 Opposition to Gentrification ............................................................................... 18 2.5 Theories about the Causes of Gentrification .................................................... 18 2.6 Context of Gentrification ................................................................................. 22 2.7 Stage Models of Gentrification ........................................................................... 23 2.7.1 Retail Gentrification ...................................................................................... 24 2.7.2 Stage 1 of Gentrification ............................................................................... 24 2.7.3 Stage 2 of Gentrification ............................................................................... 25 2.7.4 Stage 3 of Gentrification.............................................................................. 26 2.8 Gentrification in Vancouver and Grandview Woodland .................................... 28 2.9 Impact of Public Policy on Gentrification .......................................................... 30 2.10 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3.0 Methodology and Methods ......................................................................... 34 3.1 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 34 3.1.1 Case Study .................................................................................................... 34 3.1.2 Stakeholder Analysis ..................................................................................... 35 3.1.3 Environmental Scan ...................................................................................... 35 3.2 Methods ............................................................................................................. 36 3.2.1 Semi-structured Interviews ............................................................................ 36 3.2.2 Document Review ......................................................................................... 41 3.3 Thesis Limitations and Delimitations .............................................................. 42 vi Chapter 4.0 Findings...................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 5.0 Findings: Evidence of Gentrification........................................................... 45 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 45 5.2 Grandview Woodland Gentrification in the News............................................ 45 5.3 Census Indicators of Gentrification in Grandview Woodland ............................. 49 5.4 Challenges to the Document Review .................................................................. 52 5.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 6.0 Findings: Stakeholder Analysis ................................................................... 56 6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 56 6.2 Local Residents ............................................................................................... 56 6.3 Local Businesses ............................................................................................ 57 6.4 Local Industry ................................................................................................ 57 6.5 Business Improvement Associations............................................................... 57 6.6 Real Estate Developers ................................................................................... 57 6.7 Political Parties and Representatives .............................................................. 58 6.8 Public Administrators ..................................................................................... 58 6.9 Community Organizations .............................................................................