A Vancouver municipal councillor wants the city to buy an empty lot in Historic Chinataown at the centre of a controversial condo proposal.
Green Councillor Adriane Carr is making a formal motion to council next week proposing the city purchase the land at 105 Keefer and turn it into a 100 per cent social housing facility.
“We need to find a way to keep those seniors in Chinatown,” Carr said of the proposal.
“The city is in the best position to argue for the greatest number of subsidized social housing for seniors. We have no profit-making from the point of the city. We’re purely negotiating from a social goods point of view.”
Just last week, Vancouver City Council voted down a 12-storey condo proposal from developer Beedie Group after heated opposition from community groups.
That project would have had 25 units of seniors’ social housing.
If the city doesn’t want to buy the land, Carr is floating another alternative to get to that 100 per cent figure: get the developer on side.
“If they were to say ‘Look we’ve listened to the community and we’re willing to work with the city and provincial government to deliver on what the community has identified as a prime need.'”
As to whether Beedie would be willing to work within such a framework is unclear. The company has declined to comment on the idea so far.
Carr says she’s banking on help from a new NDP government, and for BC Housing to play a bigger role in order to fund the proposal.
The motion goes to council next Tuesday, and Carr is asking for staff to explore the options and come back with a report.
So far no comment from BC Housing.