The B.C. government has concluded the sales agreement with Holborn Properties for the Little Mountain property in Vancouver. Over the development period, the Province will receive proceeds, comprised of cash and non-market housing, with a total value of approximately $300 million.

The sales agreement includes a requirement for Holborn Properties to provide 234 new social housing units on the Little Mountain site. These units will replace the 224 units from the original Little Mountain social housing project and add 10 new units for the Musqueam people. Former residents of Little Mountain will have the first option to move back to a new subsidized housing unit at the site as the social housing units are completed.

The B.C. government, the City of Vancouver and Holborn properties have been working together since 2008 to redevelop the former aging public housing site.

Currently construction is underway on the first building, a five-storey building with 53 affordable one- and two-bedroom apartments. Construction on these units is expected to be complete in 2015.

Little Mountain is a 6.15-hectare (15.2-acre) site bounded by 33rd to 37th Avenues between Main and Ontario Streets in Vancouver next to Queen Elizabeth Park. The housing that existed on the site was built in the early 1950s and was no longer feasible to maintain. Redevelopment will allow for a better use of the land and encourage a mixed-income and diverse neighbourhood, with modern, subsidized housing that is fully integrated into the larger business and residential community.

The Province is investing all of the net proceeds from the sale of the site into social housing throughout B.C., with 50 per cent of the proceeds targeted for Vancouver. In addition to the 234 new units at Little Mountain, proceeds will be invested in the 2,100 new supportive housing units being built around the province, 1,500 of which are in Vancouver.

Contact:

Fergus McCann
BC Housing
778 452-6445