Jubilee House – Helmcken and Richards:

• In 2013, the City of Vancouver, Brenhill Developments, 127 Housing Society and BC Housing established a partnership to build 162 new units of affordable rental housing to replace 87 units of obsolete housing at the aging Jubilee building, located at 508 Helmcken St.
• The 162 new, low-income housing units were constructed by Brenhill at 1099 Richards St.
• The land and building are owned by the City of Vancouver and leased to 127 Housing Society for 60 years.
• As a result, all of 87 of the households at the old Helmcken site moved across the street into brand new units at 1099 Richards St. Another 20 of the units are allocated to previously homeless individuals. The remaining 55 units are rented at below market rates.
• BC Housing provided a $39 million loan to construct the 162 new, below-market rent units at the Richards St. site. The loan was secured by a mortgage that has since been repaid. The loan was secured by a mortgage on the more valuable Helmcken site.
• BC Housing has entered into an operating agreement with 127 Society for the 162 rental units that now house individuals and families at below market rates.
• Now that the Richards St. project is completed, Brenhill is building a private market condominium project at 508 Helmcken St. BC Housing has no, and has never had any involvement in this redevelopment.
• More information from BC Housing is available here: https://www.bchousing.org/partner-services/major-projects/new-jubilee-house and from the City of Vancouver here: http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/new-jubilee-house-opens-doors-to-162-affordable-homes.aspx

Project at 292 East Hastings Street:

• In 2015, Wall Financial Corporation approached BC Housing with a proposal to partner on the development of 172 affordable housing units at 292 East Hasting St.
• BC Housing subsequently agreed to purchase the land from Wall Financial and enter into a Development Agreement to complete the housing project.
• BC Housing provided a $39.5 million loan to construct the building.
• The project is being charged the same interest rate every other affordable housing development BC Housing is involved with is charged. At present, this rate is 0.9745%. The project is not receiving interest free financing.
• BC Housing will retain ownership of 104 units (35 to be rented at income assistance rates and 69 at housing income limit rent rates) and 6,000 square feet of commercial space.
• Wall Financial Corporation is retaining 68 of the 172 units for market rental. A Housing Agreement with the City of Vancouver will stipulate that the rents in the 68 units must not exceed the CMHC average market rents in order to ensure housing affordability.
• The purchase price of the 68 units is set so that BC Housing will retain 50% of the market value above the cost to construct. In essence, BC Housing receives half of the profit on the 68 market rental units to lower the cost of the 104 non-market units and the land cost.
• The total project cost is approximately $39.5 million.
• The development accomplishes four main objectives:
  1. Increases the supply of quality, non-market housing by building self-contained units (104 studio units);
  2. Increases the rental stock in Vancouver (68 units including studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units) consistent with City of Vancouver housing incentive programs;
  3. Improves the commercial fronting onto both Hastings and Gore by improving the design and public safety of the commercial space which will serve the population in the area, including an integrated landscaping plan consistent with city requirements; and
  4. Undertakes redevelopment consistent with a vision for overall improvements to the Hastings and Gore intersection projects.
• The project satisfies the City of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan requirements.
• More information from BC Housing is available here: https://www.bchousing.org/partner-services/major-projects/288-east-hastings