Social Housing in Vancouver - The 14 Sites

[the_prof]

I can see the two sites on Princess Ave from my window - one looks completed, the other almost completed

[hollywoodnorth]

I think:

1 is still under construction on Princess Ave
1 is DOA on Pacific.

and the rest are all completed I think.

[officedweller]

Here's the one at 111 Princess Ave (590 Alexander?) from Changing City Updates:


http://changingcitybook.com/2014/10/04/111-princess-avenue/

[osirisboy]

Lol they all kinda have the same feel. Overall they are good but enough with these offset windows and coloured blocks

[Genauso]

Georgia Straight: Province funds 30 shelter beds at Salvation Army Harbour Light complex in Vancouver

$36,000 annually per cot in a gym is apparently the going rate


I notice that a lot of the derelict rental buildings along Granville St downtown are being prepared for demolition with commercial tenants evicted and the buildings boarded up with plywood. I think I saw an article about the development for one of them that was painted lime green in the Georgia Straight months ago, the building itself was a disgusting horror story inside. Social housing or not, no building should be neglected like that. It's as bad as all the vacant lots around town where the city has a hand in seeing they're not even opened up as parking lots while they sit completely wasted for decades. Then they spend millions planting trees on Georgia St and Granville St where there is no room on the sidewalk and the trees are too far apart to make any difference in weather (I like trees, Richards St is one of the best ever) and then spend millions more on patches of grass, instead of even just allowing dogs to do their business on the vacant lot which is fenced off and is obviously not paying more than $1 a year in taxes.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Genauso

Georgia Straight: Province funds 30 shelter beds at Salvation Army Harbour Light complex in Vancouver

$36,000 annually per cot in a gym is apparently the going rate


I notice that a lot of the derelict rental buildings along Granville St downtown are being prepared for demolition with commercial tenants evicted and the buildings boarded up with plywood. I think I saw an article about the development for one of them that was painted lime green in the Georgia Straight months ago, the building itself was a disgusting horror story inside. Social housing or not, no building should be neglected like that. It's as bad as all the vacant lots around town where the city has a hand in seeing they're not even opened up as parking lots while they sit completely wasted for decades. Then they spend millions planting trees on Georgia St and Granville St where there is no room on the sidewalk and the trees are too far apart to make any difference in weather (I like trees, Richards St is one of the best ever) and then spend millions more on patches of grass, instead of even just allowing dogs to do their business on the vacant lot which is fenced off and is obviously not paying more than $1 a year in taxes.

Honestly, $36,000 per year to put a roof over someone is insane. That is $3,000 per month. You can rent pretty nice market apartments for $2,000 per month and still have $1,000 per resident to pay for counseling etc.

I think most tax payers realize something needs to be done to help people who have fallen through safety net. However spending $3,000 per cot shows some problems with the current system.

[osirisboy]

Seems like someone is making a lot of money off the homeless. This is the stuff the pivot ppl should be pissed off about. For that amount of money they should be able to provide way more shelter beds

[WarrenC12]

Poverty pimps. Portland Hotel Society was just one... the others are all the same.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by casper

Honestly, $36,000 per year to put a roof over someone is insane. That is $3,000 per month. You can rent pretty nice market apartments for $2,000 per month and still have $1,000 per resident to pay for counseling etc.

I think most tax payers realize something needs to be done to help people who have fallen through safety net. However spending $3,000 per cot shows some problems with the current system.

To be fair I would hope to think that those costs include the support services that go along with shelters for the homeless. councillors/nurses/staff/etc.

I hope...

[Vin]

Originally Posted by cornholio

To be fair I would hope to think that those costs include the support services that go along with shelters for the homeless. councillors/nurses/staff/etc.

I hope...

Even if it's $800 for rent and $2200 for support, it is still way too much! Notice any improvement with homelessless despite years of all these funds spent on support and social housing? From what I know, homelessness seems to be getting worse. Time to legislate them off the streets into well run government shelters and spend less money on social housing.

[sacrifice333]

Well... recent article on Marguerite Ford...

Social housing project generates 729 police calls in first 16 months - Housing minister “not happy with outcome”

Mike Howell / Vancouver Courier
September 23, 2014 11:37 AM

A man in handcuffs lies face down on the sidewalk outside the Marguerite Ford Apartments, a recently opened 147-unit social housing complex on the edge of the former Olympic Village.

A crimson shin pad pokes out from one of the man’s pant legs.

A police officer in plain clothes stands next to him, holding a bat-sized wooden stick seized from the combatant who turns out to be a resident of the apartments at 215 West Second Ave.

Police arrested him after he and another tenant got into a fight with a former resident in the lobby. The fight spilled out onto the sidewalk, where police on patrol intervened in the melee.

The incident — the aftermath of which was witnessed by the Courier in March and featured in a photograph with this article — was one of hundreds police responded to over the past 16 months at the building.

Vancouver police answered 729 calls to the Marguerite Ford Apartments from the month it opened in May 2013 to August of this year. The calls involved fights, drugs, weapons, threats, break-ins, stolen property, frauds, suicide attempts, domestic disputes, missing persons, abandoned 911 calls and assisting paramedics and firefighters.

In comparison, the 129-unit social housing building known as First Place, located a few blocks east near Main and First Avenue, recorded 261 police calls in its first 16 months of operation.

Why such a disparity?

- See more at: Vancouver Courier Full Article

Interesting article... very long... read it. And buried in it, you'll find that 10 sites have been completed, 4 remain.

[Klazu]

I haven't followed up this topic that much, but to what kind of people are these 14 new buildings built for? Who can get an apartment in one of these buildings and how much does it cost for that person? Are these first and foremost for homeless people or do "normal" people also get apartments in these buildings? Do you have to be a homeless Vancouverite or can a homeless out-of-towner get an apartment in one of these?

These seem like a big investment by the city, so I would be curious to learn how the system works. It's shameful that giving these people shelter doesn't seem to bring much gratitude from their side and the problems just follow to the new area.

In that light all the shelter projects in Downtown South area are a bit worrisome for someone living in the area.

[Klazu]

Ah, the above article did answer the question.

Coleman said the provincial government reluctantly agreed to revise the original memorandum of understanding with the city to allow for what’s become known as the 50-30-20 formula.

It means at least 50 per cent of the tenants must be from the street or a shelter, 30 per cent from single-room occupancy hotels and 20 per cent at risk of homelessness, including people discharged from hospitals and jails.

Definitely worth reading although it does make one sad and angry at the same time...

http://www.vancourier.com/news/social-ho...olice-calls-in-first-16-months-1.1385917

[casper]

It is an interesting commentary on our society that we need to have special programs to teach the general public how to rent a home.

http://www.readytorentbc.net/

Complex issue, that is hard to solve.

[officedweller]

The one at Broadway & Fraser:


http://vancouverchange.wordpress.com/

[officedweller]

Great pics of MacLaren House (on Howe St.) incl solar panels on roof:

http://dereklepper.prosite.com/188388/25...housing-society-of-bc-for-gbl-architects

[red-paladin]

Is anyone interested to put together a final summary list of the 14 sites with completed pictures?

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Great pics of MacLaren House (on Howe St.) incl solar panels on roof:

http://dereklepper.prosite.com/188388/25...housing-society-of-bc-for-gbl-architects

Those aren't solar panels. They evacuated tube solar collectors to heat water. They don't produce electricity.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Those aren't solar panels. They evacuated tube solar collectors to heat water. They don't produce electricity.

Hot water solar is still solar.

People associate solar with PV though.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Hot water solar is still solar.

People associate solar with PV though.

Yes, but they're not panels. They're tubes. Small difference to most people, but they're very different technologies.