VANCOUVER — The City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency (VAHA) recently announced a combined initiative to build more than 1,000 affordable homes on city land valued at $130 million.
The new homes will be targeted to singles and families earning between $30,000 and $80,000 annually. The city says the announcement represents the largest one-time municipal land investment into the community housing sector in the country.
In a media release, Mayor Gregor Robertson said the land contribution is the latest step taken in Vancouver to ensure people with low- to middle incomes can find a home and build a future in the city.
The units will be developed in partnership with Community Land Trust (CLT).
“We are thrilled to be partnering with VAHA and the city in this unprecedented opportunity to increase the supply of affordable housing in Vancouver,” said Thom Armstrong, executive director of the Co-op Housing Federation of BC and the Community Land Trust, in the release. “This historic partnership with the CLT and the community housing sector will create a legacy of affordable homes we can all be proud of in neighbourhoods throughout the City.”
The city says 40 homes will be added to a townhome complex in Vancouver’s River District and roughly 600 remaining units will be operated by other co-op and non-profit partners to be named in the coming months.
Ninety of the units located in the downtown core will provide self-contained, safe and secure housing for women, while 169 units in the same area will be tailored to the needs of the HIV and LGBTQ community and their families, the release reads.
Work on the first building is expected to begin by the middle of next year, the release adds. The buildings will be ready for occupancy by 2021.
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