A long-planned social housing-detox centre that will be built over a city block in East Vancouver is now estimated to cost close to $200 million and won’t be completed until 2028.
BIV reported March 7 that construction was expected to begin this month on the project, with the provincial government saying at the time that cost and more details would be released “very soon.”
On Wednesday, the government issued a news release with the cost breakdown, including news that the federal government is now on board with the project:
• The provincial government via BC Housing will provide approximately $32 million through an Affordable Rental Housing grant.
• The federal government will provide almost $105 million through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing Fund, including a $7 million contribution and a $98 million repayable loan
• Another $18 million will come via the Canada-British Columbia Bilateral Agreement under the National Housing Strategy.
• More than $23 million is committed from the province through Vancouver Coastal Health, and VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.
• The City of Vancouver contributed the land, with a value of nearly $17 million.
• Capital funding toward an Indigenous-led program space provided by the city will also be included, but no dollar figure was released.
City council approved project in 2019
The project was approved by a previous city council in February 2019 and believed at the time to be the biggest development of its kind in the province. Six years later, the project site at Clark Drive and East First Avenue is now a pile of debris from the recently demolished homes that occupied the property.
Earlier this month, BIV enquired with the city’s communications department to get a status report on the project but was referred to the provincial government.
The Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said in an email the project has experienced delays because of changes in the “municipal approvals schedule and unforeseen design changes required for various approval processes.”
“While we always strive to move our projects ahead as efficiently as possible, projects can be impacted by any number of unanticipated factors including municipal approvals, site conditions, increased development costs, and so on,” the ministry said.
97 homes, 51-bed detox
The project features 97 rental housing units, a 51-bed detox centre and a 20-bed transition space for clients. It will be built in the same neighbourhood that currently has a temporary modular housing complex, a shelter and 10 “tiny shelters.”
The 97 homes, which will be rented at “the lower end of market rates” will be operated by S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Affordable Housing Society.
The detox centre would be a direct replacement for the existing Vancouver Detox Centre, which includes a sobering centre. It’s been operating nearby at 377 East Second Ave. for more than 30 years.
Vancouver Coastal Health has wanted to replace it for many years because the health authority says it’s undersized for the growing demand in the city for withdrawal and substance-use programs.
'More responsive care'
Bob Chapman, vice-president, Vancouver Community at Vancouver Coastal Health, said in the government’s news release that he looked forward to the impact the facility will have on people taking the next step in their recovery journey.
“This new centre allows us to wrap health-care services around clients within their community, providing support that will result in more responsive care,” Chapman said.
The detox will also serve as an academic teaching, research and learning hub.
'Navigation centre' still not open
Meanwhile, a 60-bed “navigation centre” for homeless people in Vancouver that was promised by the B.C. government in 2020 has still not opened.
The centre, which was supposed to be the first of its kind in Canada, was scheduled to be operating by spring 2021, according to an August 2020 announcement made by the then-minister responsible for housing, Selina Robinson.
The provincial government and city’s communications department have previously told Glacier Media that a site had yet to be secured.
Vancouver has had a growing homeless population for many years, with the most recent Metro Vancouver homeless count indicating 2,420 people were identified without a home over a 24-hour period in March 2023.
Region-wide, the homeless population recorded in the point-in-time count totalled 4,821 — a 32 per cent increase over the last regional count in March 2020 when 3,634 were recorded without a home.
Another count was done this month, with results expected to be released in the fall.
The BC Coroners Service released data March 14 showing that 152 people died of a drug overdose in the province in January. Forty of those deaths occurred in Vancouver.
X/@Howellings
