The City of Vancouver has opened its first land trust building, opening about 50 protected, affordable housing units.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said the project, located at 1720 Kingsway, is the beginning of his plan to create 72,000 units of housing over the next 10 years.
“We’ve got lots of units on the way to completion right now. We have a 1,000-unit partnership with BC Housing that will be opening before the end of next year,” Robertson said.
The city invested about $25 million in land towards the partnership for the three Land Trust buildings.
More than 350 units will be available through the Land Trust project for households earning between $30,000 and $70,000 annually.
Robertson said all levels of government need to come together to help ease the real estate crisis.
“We’re going to have to pull out all the stops to do that, and the more support that we have with the provincial and federal government, the more affordable those units can be,” Robertson said.
“So I think collectively everyone is at the table pushing hard and that’s really thanks to the leadership of the community.”
This is Vancouver’s first Land Trust building, with two more coming in the River District.