A community benefits agreement (CBA) is a contract signed by community groups and a real estate developer that requires the developer to bring meaningful and relevant environmental, economic, or social benefits to a community. CBAs include specific requirements for the developer such as job creation, hiring and local procurement opportunities, improvement of public spaces and parks, creation of community and childcare spaces, and other community amenities.
What could a CBA in North Park look like?
In December 2020, the NPNA worked with Masters students of Urban and Regional Planning from Queen’s University to research CBAs and how they could be applied to developments in North Park.
CBAs in Action in Vancouver
Vancouver was the first major city in Canada to introduce a formal CBA policy, following community benefit frameworks introduced at the federal and provincial levels in 2018. Vancouver’s CBA Policy passed in October 2018.
See Vancouver’s Community Benefits Agreement Policy here.
Projects that have a Community Benefit Agreement under the Vancouver CBA Policy must demonstrate best efforts in meeting the following:
- Local, inclusive employment: Making 10% of new entry level jobs available to people in Vancouver first, specifically those who are equity-seeking (referred to in the policy as first source hiring)
- Social procurement: Procuring a minimum of 10% of material goods and services from third party certified social impact and/or equity seeking businesses, with a priority on Vancouver businesses.
- Local procurement: Attaining 10% procurement of materials, goods and services from Vancouver companies or companies located in Metro Vancouver or British Columbia. These may or may not also be equity-seeking third party certified businesses