NPA councillor says Vision majority delaying decision until after Games
Cheryl Rossi
Van. Courier
Council must rule on 252 units designated for mixed-income social housing at the Olympic Village. Photograph by : Dan Toulgoet
NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton expects city council will wait until after the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to avoid political fallout for cancelling social housing at the Olympic Village.
“I’m going to guess that they won’t bring it on Feb. 2 because they’re not going to want to make a decision like that right before the Olympics,” she said.
The Vision-dominated council was expected to decide in November what to do with the 252 units designated for mixed-income social housing. Then it was expected to deal with the dilemma Jan. 19. The next possibility is Feb. 2. After Feb. 4, council meetings are suspended until March 2, when the 2010 Games end.
“I’m guessing that council doesn’t particularly want to make a decision on it because I think they’re going to be driven into making a decision to cancel the social housing, which I think is the only fiscally responsible decision you could make,” said Anton.
The city committed to providing affordable housing in the Olympic Village as a legacy of the Games. But the cost of constructing these units skyrocketed from a budgeted $65 million in 2006 to $110 million, ruining the original business plan that estimated the city could subsidize up to 50 per cent of the units for low-income households with no extra costs to the city.
B.C. Housing estimated the city would have to invest $35 million in equity–on top of the capital costs–to make the units viable at average market rents, $56 million to subsidize half of them, or $77 million to subsidize all of them, according to a staff report released last February.
Vision Coun. Kerry Jang says the city isn’t delaying a decision for political reasons. He said he and the mayor have spoken to foreign media about their predicament. “If there was any attempt at trying to make the city look good as a political thing, you think we’d do a better job of hiding it,” Jang said.
According to Dennis Carr, assistant director of social infrastructure with the city, a staff report on options for the 252 units, including making them market rental, was ready for council’s consideration in November.
“The problem is not a report is not ready,” he said Jan. 15. “The problem is they want a different report.”
Anton believes the 252 units should be sold, but not in May when Rennie Marketing Systems will focus on selling the remaining 474 high-end condos in the village on behalf of developer Millennium Water.
The affordable units cost an average of $600,000 each and range from one- to four-bedroom units. Some were built to house seniors and others to accommodate families.
They lack the high-end finishes and water views of the condominiums but include thicker walls, a radiant heating system and green roofs to boost environmental sustainability.
More than 7,000 people in Metro Vancouver are waiting for low-cost housing on B.C. Housing’s list.
