Residents of Vancouver’s Little Mountain social housing complex received their first official notification
Frances Bula
Sun
VANCOUVER – Residents of Vancouver’s Little Mountain social housing complex received their first official notification Wednesday that their homes are going to be redeveloped, in the wake of a Vancouver Sun story that outlined the plan.
A letter from B.C. Housing hand-delivered to their homes early Wednesday, assures them that “the rebuilding will be done by putting ‘residents first.’ ” It also promises they will be able to move back into one of the new units, get help with their moving, and be reimbursed for hook-up charges.
But for resident Ingrid Steenhuisen, it still doesn’t answer one of her main questions: Will residents get to have a say in what the complex looks like?
“They say we will be provided with choices, but it sounds more like they are talking about choices for where to move, not choices for the design,” said Steenhuisen. “It doesn’t say whether we will have a say in how it’s developed. It doesn’t say whether it’s on the same acreage. The tenants who used to live here and even the homeowners who live around here say it’s a design that works.”
Steenhuisen, who grew up in the project after her family moved there in 1957, said the open space has always been one of the huge benefits, allowing children to play near their homes and under the watchful eyes of all the residents.
Little Mountain’s 800 residents live in 224 units spread over six hectares at the base of Queen Elizabeth Park.
It is the first B.C. social-housing project to reach an age where it needs to be extensively renovated or redeveloped. It is also the first of what may become a provincewide effort to redevelop aging social housing and put in extra density to cover the costs of rebuilding, while also generating some profit for the province that may be used for other housing projects.
Housing advocates and municipal politicians are watching closely to see what Housing Minister Rich Coleman does with the project, especially whether existing units are replaced one-for-one on the site, whether some are replaced off-site, and whether any new units are added to existing sites.
The letter to the residents specifies that “all existing subsidized housing units will be replaced with an equal number of new subsidized units.”
NDP MLA David Chudnovsky, whose riding borders Little Mountain, says it’s not clear if the province intends to put back all 224 units on the site.
“Here we have a community that has existed there for many years and there is no guarantee there will be an equal number of sites created on site,” he said.
He also said that, if the site is going to be rebuilt more densely, the province should pay for an increase in social housing units.
“There’s no reason they shouldn’t double or triple the number.”
The city’s zoning would allow 1,000 units, but the province has indicated it wants to be able to build more than that, which will require rezoning permission.
Coleman’s office said he is travelling and was unable to return calls. It is still not clear how much more density the province wants or what kind of agreement it will want with a developer.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007