Library to combine with social housing on DTES
Posted March 22, 2011 10:30 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s half library, half affordable housing project, and it’s coming to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The $12 million building on East Hastings near Heatley should be finished sometime in late 2014.
The top four floors will have 15 to 20 suites for single mothers, and in the bottom there will be a 12,000 square foot library.
City librarian Sandra Singh says the two components go together nicely. “We’re able to do it in a way that contributes to the broader challenges in Vancouver in creating affordable housing for community members. For us it’s a real win-win.”
There were concerns some heritage buildings would have be knocked down to make way for this project on East Hastings near Heatley Street, but that’s not going to happen.
Design work on the Downtown Eastside/Strathcona library branch and housing, which will be operated in partnership with the YWCA, will start this April.
