UBC faculty and staff began moving into UBC’s newly completed workforce housing building at the end of October.
Located in Wesbrook Place, the Theory building includes 136 units ranging from studios to 4-bedrooms and is the first of 3 buildings to be completed in the area. The completion of the other buildings will bring an additional total of 515 housing units, of which two thirds will be for faculty and staff.
“We heard very loudly that there was a demand for increased housing and choice and more affordable housing options. And so Theory is a step towards providing more housing choice and more affordable housing in the neighbourhoods at UBC,” said Associate Vice-President Campus and Community Planning Michael White.
This is part of Campus Vision 2050 — UBC’s long-term plan land planning project — which includes goals of providing affordable housing and improving community on campus. According to White, of the future residential units, 40 per cent of the new suites will be for rental, 25 per cent for faculty and staff at a discount and 15 per cent for market rental.
“One of our top priorities is not just delivering housing, but delivering a complete community experience,” said White.
“[When] planning neighbourhoods, we ensure that in addition to housing, there is childcare, there's community centres … There's investment in the local ecology and transportation systems. We look at the whole picture and want to build a complete community."
White also mentioned the buildings take into account UBC's Climate Action Plan 2030 and the goal to have new building target near zero operational emissions. "We are designing buildings to very high sustainability performance," he said.
Part of the Housing Action Plan (HAP) — a long-term plan to support student housing while balancing affordability — aims to increase future rental housing from 30 per cent to 40 per cent of new homes. The HAP aims to add more than 3,300 new student beds to UBC's existing nearly 14,000 student beds.
White also said new buildings aim to support students through the revenue created from selling 60 per cent of the rental housing portfolio to the market. He said this revenue greatly contributes to finance student housing on campus.
“There's an important opportunity with the generation of revenue in the neighbourhoods to fund and finance academic priorities,” said White.
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