Doug Ward
Sun
With a few protesters on hand, demolition began on the Little Mountain housing project Friday. Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
The razing of the Little Mountain social housing complex in Vancouver began Friday, attracting a small group of protesters opposed to the site’s redevelopment.
The demonstrators didn’t try to stop the demolition crew from starting to knock down vacated buildings on the Little Mountain complex, the oldest social housing site in B.C.
All but a few of the residents who lived in the 224 public housing units near Queen Elizabeth Park have moved to other social housing units in Metro Vancouver.
The holdouts have been allowed to remain in about four units in one building.
One of the protesters, Kia Salomons, attacked the provincial government for selling the public land to a private developer and allowing the destruction of affordable housing on the site.
The redevelopment of the site by developer Holborn Group will include market housing and subsidized units. Former Little Mountain residents will have the option to move into the social housing units.
B.C. Housing regional director Dale McMann said that half of the money from the sale of the redevelopment will be used to finance social housing in Vancouver, with the other half providing subsidized housing elsewhere in B.C.
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