The Hook

A Downtown Eastside housing advocate wasn’t surprised that the future of 252 social housing units at the Olympic Village could be in peril due to soaring costs.

“We’d known for about a year and half that there was no guarantees of any affordable housing at the Athlete’s Village,” Wendy Pederson from the Carnegie Community Action Project told the Tyee.

Back then, Pederson said her organization was notified by city of Vancouver social development director Cameron Gray that the social housing component of the project was subject to the whims of the market.

“He said there was no guarantee at all for anything,” she said. “The three levels of government should have signed a deal in blood early on that there would be social housing.”

The projected cost of affordable housing in the Village has risen by $45 million since 2006, according to a report authored by Gray that appears before council this afternoon.

Factors such as high construction prices, stringent environmental standards, a $7.5 million fee to builder Millennium Development and the accelerated building schedule account for the rise.

In order to make all the units available to “core-need” households -- that is, families that spend over 30 per cent of their income on housing at market rates -- the city will have to pitch in $77 million.

Coalition of Progressive Electors councillor Ellen Woodsworth said she was “shocked and concerned” to learn about the new financial reality.

“It’s a cost that’s coming to us at a time when we’re already facing cost overruns,” she said. But she added that Vancouver residents would be outraged if social housing commitments were scaled back.

“People would be very, very upset,” she said.

So far, the city has paid $129 million to keep the Athlete’s Village afloat after financier Fortress Investment stopped making payments to Millennium in October. City officials are in negotiations to secure the $458 million needed to finish the project by its November 2009 deadline.

Pederson said even if the city takes on additional debt to develop 252 Village units for “core-need” households, Vancouver’s neediest families will still be left by the wayside.

In 2007, the Inner-city Inclusive Housing Table -- a meeting of businesses, community groups and government reps -- recommended that 40 per cent of Village social housing be allocated for “deep-core” need.

That translates into about $400 for a one-bedroom apartment, as opposed to “core-need” rents which could be as high as $1300 a month, said Pederson. According to her calculations, the $77 million needed for social housing would pay for 385 new single units in the Downtown Eastside for people at welfare rates.

“We should ask council those questions,” Pederson said. “What else could they do for that $77 million to really alleviate the problem of homelessness?”

Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for the Hook.