More than six years after winning approval from the city, a detox facility in Vancouver’s Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood is finally seeing shovels in the ground.
The project on city land at East 1st Avenue and Clark Drive will include 97 non-market homes, along with a withdrawal centre.
“This development will not only offer low- to middle-income people and families a home that’s within their budget, but will also connect people to health-care treatment they need to get on a better path,” Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said in a statement.
The withdrawal centre will include 51 medically-supervised detox beds, 20 sobering beds and 20 short-term transitional beds.
That last set will serve clients who have worked their way through withdrawal management, but are waiting for support recovery and treatment beds to open.
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“For many, withdrawal management is often the first step of their recovery journey,” Health Minister Josie Osborne said.
“This new facility is going to help more people get the critical supports they need and is another step in our work to expand access to treatment and recovery services.”
The housing will be operated by S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Affordable Housing Society, while the detox facility will be operated by Vancouver Coastal Health.
The project has faced a long road to get off the ground.
Vancouver city council rezoned the property in February 2019 after a marathon two-day public hearing.
Construction on the detox centre was originally planned for early 2020, but it quickly became held up by red tape.
Three years after that, in early 2023, the City of Vancouver told Global News work had been held up by the need to redraft its building permit application after the city’s building bylaw was updated in 2019.
The province now says the goal is to complete the project by 2028.
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