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BC Housing applies for Little Mountain demolition permits

VANCOUVER - The bulldozers are coming to demolish one of Vancouver’s oldest social housing projects.

Little Mountain Housing project, built in 1954 and including homes that once housed close to 700 low-income residents, will be demolished as soon as BC Housing, which manages the site for the province, can obtain city permits.

Although only 12 of the site’s 224 units are still occupied, the news evoked strong response from critics.

“This is a scandal,” said David Chudnovsky, former Vancouver Kensington MLA and NDP critic for homelessness and health.

“It has been a botch job from start to finish, with Rich Coleman, the minister responsible, deciding he’d rather be a land speculator than Minister of Housing.”

Coleman was unavailable for comment on the Little Mountain controversy in time for this story.

The remaining residents at Little Mountain were informed that BC Housing has asked the city for permits to begin demolition, in a letter signed by Dale McMann, BC Housing regional director for the Vancouver Coastal Region.

The letter assures the residents they will not be immediately evicted.

“The application for these permits will not affect your tenancy at this time … As always, the staff of the Relocation Office are available to assist you in identifying subsidized housing options during the redevelopment period,” it said.

It is impossible to say how soon the social housing units will be demolished, McMann told The Tyee. He said BC Housing has successfully relocated the residents of all but a dozen Little Mountain units.

Local housing advocates, such as Linda Shuto of Community Advocates for Little Mountain, argue the old buildings should be renovated and made available for low-cost housing use.

“Federal money was announced a few weeks ago that could be used to refurbish Little Mountain and use it for years as low-cost housing,” Shuto said. “The demolition application should be cancelled and the existing buildings should be used for affordable housing as soon as possible.”

Shuto says that the proposed developer, the Holborn Group, has had business reversals and will be unable to move on development any time soon. She estimates the delay could be as long as five years.

But McMann rejected the idea that the buildings at Little Mountain should be renovated.

“These buildings are old and in poor shape,” he said. “It could cost in the hundreds of millions to set them up for new tenants. Our obligation is to provide this site to the developer as a clear and vacant site. If we did what CALM suggests, we’d only have to face another delay and more expense in a few years.”

Vancouver city councillor Kerry Jang is not persuaded that renovation is practical either.

“This is a tough one,” Jang told The Tyee. “I understand the issues raised by advocates completely, but BC Housing is totally within their rights in the demolition application. I’m not sure renovation would be possible.”

Tom Sandborn is a Tyee contributing editor and a regular on The Hook. He welcomes your feedback and story tips at [email protected].

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