.jpg;w=120;h=120;mode=crop){kind=avatar}
Politicians and housing advocates gathered Friday to celebrate construction underway on a $54.7 million North Vancouver project that will provide 86 units of affordable housing for families, seniors and people with disabilities.
The project, on the district-owned site of the former Delbrook community centre at 600 West Queens Road, is being built by the Hollyburn Family Services Society, with funding from BC Housing.
Construction on the project, first announced by the province in 2021, began in July of last year. It is expected to be finished in June of 2025. Currently work to complete wood framing for the building and roofing is underway on the site.
In order to complete the project, the province will pay between $5 million and $6 million more than originally budgeted. The cost of the project was initially estimated at $47.8 million, but that included forecasted costs “during very early project development,” according to the province.
The province will now pay approximately $15 million towards the project, up from $9.6 million anticipated earlier.
At the celebration of the project on Friday, B.C.’s Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said rising costs including high interest rates and high costs of materials and labour are creating “a bit of a perfect storm” in grappling with the need for more affordable housing.
“It’s a real challenge,” he said. “But when we have such good work happening in our community, we have such amazing partners coming together to make a project a reality, it would be a shame not to put the additional dollars in to make sure that these projects can continue to be built.”
Kahlon said the private sector alone won’t be enough to address the need for more housing in B.C.
“Governments need to invest in affordable housing, and they need to build partnerships,” he said.
Among other funders of the project, the District of North Vancouver provided land valued at $13.2 million and has leased it at a nominal rate to the Hollyburn Community Housing Society, while the federal government provided $78,000 in seed funding through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Vancity Community Foundation provided $25,000.
When finished, the four-storey, wood-frame building will have 47 one-bedroom units, 27 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units.
Under the province’s funding formula, 20 per cent of the units will be rented at a deep subsidy, reserved for people on disability or income assistance, low-income seniors and youth ($375 to $650 per month depending on the number of bedrooms). Half of the units will have their rents capped at 30 per cent of the household income for individuals and families making up to $64,000 per year. And 30 per cent of the suites will be offered at below-market rates to households earning between $74,000 and $95,000 per year, depending on the number of bedrooms needed.
When the project is complete, it will also close a controversial chapter for the Delbrook lands. In November 2018, the newly elected council quashed a proposal from non-profit Catalyst Community Developments to build 80 units of below-market rentals and a seniors’ respite centre in a five-storey building on the site, largely over neighbourhood concerns.
Later, council opted to create a neighbourhood park on the northern portion of the property and rezone the parking lot to allow a residential building of up to four storeys, which they then sought out non-profits to help develop. Council selected Hollyburn for the project after putting out a request for proposals in 2019.
