Stuart Hunter
Province
Another piece in solving Vancouver‘s homelessness puzzle fell into place Tuesday.
Donning a white hard hat and wielding a silver shovel, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson joined Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman and Liz Evans of the PHS Community Services Society to officially break ground on the $21.6-million Station Street supportive-housing development.
“There’ll be homes here for 80 people. How important will that be to the community? It will be astronomical,” said Evans, who has been working on Station Street for two years and on housing advocacy since 1991.
“It is going to make a massive difference to have a home with a bathroom and a door you can shut.
“It sets things in place to break that cycle.”
Standing six storeys when it is completed in early 2011, Station Street will offer 80 studio apartments and commercial/retail space on the main floor. It is between the Ivanhoe and American hotels and will be the first of 14 developments on city-owned sites jointly built by the province and municipality.
“It’s another important piece of the puzzle,” Robertson said, noting city staff helped expedite Station Street by fast-tracking the approval process. “The other [13 sites] are in various stages of development. The first six are already committed with funding.”
Victoria is providing $16.7 million in funding, with the city contributing $4.9 million in land, development waivers and commercial/retail space reimbursement.
The project will create 222 jobs and be designed to be greenhouse-gas neutral. It will offer support services and be managed by PHS, with the city leasing it to Victoria for 60 years.
“We are celebrating one more step toward eliminating homelessness in Vancouver,” Coleman said. “It is a huge investment you can only judge by people, and one person at a time.
“Understand there is more to come.”
Robertson, who has vowed to end homelessness in Vancouver by 2015, said he and Coleman hope to sit down soon and discuss the future of the Howe Street shelter.
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