City of Vancouver announces affordable housing

projects, asks for more money

Mayor Gregor Robertson says Vancouver has already committed 20 parcels of land
to low-cost housing

This is an article which was posted by Richard Zussman of the CBC On May 25th, it is well known
Vancouver is the most expensive city to live in and there is a serious lack of affordable housing in this
city, this is a step forward to address the issue but more needs to be done and both the Federal and B.C.
Provincial Government need to be involved with this.

The City of Vancouver is asking the provincial and federal governments for more funding to build
affordable homes.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says Vancouver has already committed 20 parcels of land to lowcost housing.
"The city has put forward lots of land to get projects like this going. We do need the provincial and
federal governments to contribute if we are going to get more affordability," said Robertson, at a
housing announcement Wednesday morning.
"We are seeing some contributions. There are some hopeful signs. We need it in Vancouver. There is a
lot of demand for affordable housing."

Residential density
On Wednesday, Robertson joined the Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C. and the Vancouver
Community Land Trust Foundation to announce the construction of 358 affordable housing units on
four city sites.

The first 48 homes are scheduled to be completed next March with the remaining homes to be built
in early 2018.
The projects are located at 1700 Kingsway Ave, and at 2780 SE Marine Drive, 2800 SE Marine Drive
and 2910 E Kent Avenue South.

In addition, the first phase development of the River District, the city's last and potentially most
significant waterfront neighbourhood, is set to transform former industrial land into residential.
But even in the midst of a housing crisis, the city does not yet have plans to increase density in singlefamily-home neighbourhoods.
"That is the next big step that would need a lot of community consultation," said Robertson.
"We do have a fair bit of resistance to density as it is proposed, and we generally put it on arterial
roads and close to transit that is where we focus our development and closer to the downtown
core."

Provincial money on the table

The provincial government, through B.C. Housing, has provided around $4 million in project
development funding and $90.4 million in construction costs.
Housing Minister Rich Coleman says the provincial government is willing to finance even more
affordable housing in Metro Vancouver.
"There is a proposal call out to municipalities, non-profits across B.C. for $355 million in matching
funds that could go on land in any community," said Coleman.