It’s a project that’s been more than a decade in the making, but applications have finally opened for units in a new social housing project on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The 10-storey development at 58 West Hastings includes 231 new units, about half of them held at the welfare shelter rate with the other held at a subsidized rate for lower-income people.
The facility also includes a community health centre operated by Vancouver Coastal Health, which will be accessible to others in the neighbourhood who aren’t residents.
“It’s huge,” harm reduction and recovery expert Guy Felicella told Global News.
“Obviously the Downtown Eastside has had its challenges, and obviously Chinatown, seniors, vulnerable people, all have their challenges, so having this facility in that community? Game-changing.”
The development includes a range of units from micro-suites to two-bedroom apartments, while building amenities include storage, laundry, security and an urban garden and children’s play area.
“Just walking through it and looking through all the suites and imagining people to live here I am overjoyed,” said Vancouver Chinatown Foundation chair Carol Lee.
The complex has been named “Bob and Michael’s Place” to recognize long-time philanthropists Bob Lee and Michael Audain.
The project’s completion comes as the City of Vancouver tries to move away from single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels as the basis for its stock of lowest-income housing.
Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said the new development, including its health facility, has taken that concept “to the next level.”
“I think that’s what we really need to give people — the tools and support to get them to better,” she said.
“Fifty-eight was a labour of love and it has taken a while to come to fruition, but I hope we will see more projects like it.”
Last month, the jury in a coroner’s inquest into the Winters Hotel fire that killed two people recommended ending public funding for SROs run by private owners.
The site has a complicated history.
In 2016, it was the site of a long-running homeless encampment that was ultimately cleared after the city secured a court injunction.
That same year, then-mayor Gregor Robertson promised homeless advocates the lot would be used to develop social housing with 100 per cent of units held at the shelter rate.
The project’s rezoning was approved in 2018.
But under the next city council it evolved to include half the number of shelter-rate units after the city said it couldn’t afford to subsidize the units alone.
About 650 applications have already been submitted for residency in the new building.
While Felicella says he’s thrilled to see the building up and running, adding he wants to see the process for similar projects sped up so that others can get into housing faster.
“I just don’t understand, things get announced but they take so long to be built,” he said.
“Why are we making it so hard to build these things that are vital for our communities?”