Vancouver approves funding for another supportive housing project downtown
Posted February 19, 2015 6:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The City of Vancouver has plans for another low-income housing project in the south end of downtown.
Council has approved $1 million in funding to re-open the Bosman Hotel.
The money will help restore and renovate the building located on Howe and Helmcken.
Councillor Kerry Jang says it’s targeted to the city’s most vulnerable people who often have trouble finding a place to live.
“What it will do is provide 100 new units of interim housing for folks suffering from mental illness and addiction so these are folks that are quite motivated to get better.”
He says it’s not just a roof over their head. “It will actually be looking after people who are asking for a safe place to live and want to get off the drugs and get treatment for their addictions, as well as for mental health.”
Tenants will pay anywhere from $375 to $600 monthly in rent.
NPA Councillor George Affleck strongly opposed the funding approval; he feels there wasn’t any public consultation.
“The challenge I had wasn’t necessarily with the money — although it was a lot,” he tells us. “It was the amount of time that the public was given to analyze this, which was only a few days. I thought that was inappropriate.”
“The downtown south area has been inundated with projects that have come out of nowhere, without any public consultation,” he argues.
“The neighbours are frustrated and this is just one more project that the neighbours will be surprised to hear about, I’m sure, now that it’s been approved, as far as the financial side.”
In response, Jang says there will be public meetings organized at the development permit board level.
