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The British Columbia government is working with Westbank Project Corporation to redevelop two adjacent buildings located on West Cordova St. into a single building to help address homelessness in Vancouver.
The project includes the New Fountain Shelter and the Stanley Hotel.
This is an innovative partnership that will replace old, poorly functioning buildings with new social and market rental housing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The integrated building will include a three-storey section with 80 social housing units. The self-contained units will include private bathroom and kitchen facilities and will provide safe, affordable homes for low-income individuals transitioning from shelters to independent living.
The building will also include ground floor retail commercial units and a seven-storey section with 134 market rental units.
Hotel tenants will be moved to renovated single room occupancy hotels and to units managed by Portland Hotel Society (the current operator of the Stanley Hotel) in Gastown and the Downtown Eastside.
The Province is working to open a replacement shelter on East Hasting St. for existing clients of the New Fountain Shelter.
Once the existing residents have moved to alternate accommodations, construction is expected to start in fall 2016 with completion targeted for late 2018.
Quick Facts:
- Heritage elements of both buildings will be restored. In addition to the new social housing units, the project will include multipurpose space, bicycle storage space, roof decks and gardens, an amenity kitchen and common laundry.
- The New Fountain Shelter opened in 2008 as one of Vancouver’s Homeless Emergency Action Team (H.E.A.T.) temporary shelters. It has since become a year-round shelter providing 56 emergency shelter spaces and three meals a day.
- The Stanley Hotel is a single room occupancy hotel providing 78 rooms. Vancouver Coastal Health contributes staffing dollars and has direct access to 15 of the 78 rooms.
- The Province has purchased the properties for $2.7 million and signed an agreement with Westbank to develop the 214-unit project for an estimated total capital cost of $52.8 million.
Learn More:
For more information on affordable housing programs and the Province’s efforts to end homelessness in B.C., please visit: www.housingmattersbc.ca/factsheets.html and www.bchousing.org
Follow BC Housing on Twitter: @BC_Housing
