Frances Bula
Sun
VANCOUVER I Get rid of plans for about 660 units of “modest” housing to save $8 million; reduce the number of social-housing units from about 660 to 330 to save $16 million; reduce the number of child-care centres from five to three to save $3.2 million.
But keep the full-size community centre, boating facility, and parks for the future community of about 16,000 people in Southeast False Creek.
Those are the recommendations from city manager Judy Rogers if Vancouver’s new Non-Partisan Association council wants to reduce its investment in Vancouver’s last big block of empty land near the downtown.
The previous council had decided to invest that money from the city’s $1.2-billion property endowment fund in order to create a model sustainable, mixed community, with a significant component of social housing and “affordable” housing in the approximately 2,000 planned units — one-third for each.
The much-awaited staff report, issued late Friday, gives council various options for revising the former council’s plan that offer councillors choices between cutting all of the “modest” housing component or just part of it, reserving up to 29 per cent of the future housing units for social housing, reducing the size of the community centre, and finding $10 million from other sources for parks.
But Rogers makes strong recommendations for having no “modest housing” component at all in the development and the minimum 20-per-cent social-housing requirement.
Rogers says the city was anticipating having to discount its land to future private bidders by $8.3 million to reduce the approximately 600 planned units of modest housing to a level considered affordable.
As well, she said “what it would look like, how it would be delivered, and how any required funding would be provided are very uncertain.”
Rogers also said councillors could try to reserve more land for social housing.
But what would be the point? “The city does not have a shortage of affordable housing sites — it has a shortage of senior government funding to support construction of the buildings.”
But Vision Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie was appalled at the report.
“Our worst [fears] are being confirmed that only the very rich will be able to live in our city.
“Southeast False Creek was an opportunity for us as a city to look for unique opportunities to make the city inclusive in all housing price levels.”
The staff report didn’t recommend any more extensive changes than that because it would have meant having to open up the whole plan to a new set of public hearings, which would delay building of the Olympic village.
Four Vancouver development companies who have been short-listed to bid on the village, which must have a minimum of 250 social-housing units, are supposed to be putting in their bids by Jan. 30.
The staff report acknowledges that some decisions can’t be reversed, which means staff haven’t been able to come up with a way to recover all $50 million of costs and lost profits for the land.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
