Social Housing in Vancouver - The 14 Sites

[SFUVancouver]

The 14 projects that are under construction or in the pipeline certainly warrant their own thread.

I will try to populate this thread with photos of the six sites that are currently under construction. With funding now approved for the rest of the batch there will be a lot of movement on them soon.

1050 Expo Boulevard

Source
Number of apartments: 133
Non-Profit Housing Society: 127 Society for Housing/St. James Community Services Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $30.6 million


1134 Burrard Street

Source
Number of apartments: 141
Non-Profit Housing Society: Kettle Friendship Society/Family Services of Greater Vancouver
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $30.4 million


215 West 2nd Avenue

Source
Number of apartments: 147
Non-Profit Housing Society: Katherine Sanford Housing Society/RainCity Housing and Support Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $34.2 million


590 Alexander Street

Source
Number of apartments: 139
Non-Profit Housing Society: PHS Community Services Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $31.2 million


606 Powell Street

Source
Number of apartments: 147
Non-Profit Housing Society: RainCity Housing and Support Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $34.6 million


1233 - 1251 Howe

Source
Number of apartments: 110
Non-Profit Housing Society: McLaren Housing Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $22.3 million


7th and Fir

Source
Number of apartments: 62
Non-Profit Housing Society: Katherine Sanford Housing Society/Motivation, Power and Achievement Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $13.4 million


675 E. Broadway

Source
Number of apartments: 127 (includes 20 to 30 below market rental units)
Non-Profit Housing Society: Vancouver Native Housing Society/Broadway Youth Resources Centre
Estimated Project Capital Cost: $28.3 million


First and Main

Photo of the project rendering taken by SFUVancouver, May 28th, 2010, at the project site.
Number of apartments: 129
Non-Profit Housing Society: Lookout Emergency Aid Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: ?


Abott and Pender

Photo of the project rendering taken by SFUVancouver, May 28th, 2010, at the project site.
Number of apartments: about 110
Non-Profit Housing Society: Atria Women's Housing Society
Estimated Project Capital Cost: ?

[dleung]

Expo looks like a parking garage

Burrard looks like 1960's west end

W 2nd Ave looks boring, with an annoyingly-familiar and desparate splash of colour. reminds me of the cbc building in toronto

Alexander Street is tolerable, but really belongs in the 70's as a radisson hotel

Same for East Broadway, only not so tolerable

7th and Fir can go either way... time will tell

I hope Powell is just a placeholder until they get around to designing it

1251 Howe looks really promising... the design is rational and seems hard to screw up

Realistically, I can only see 1251 Howe, 7th and Fir, Alexander, W 2nd to be built without a major redesign... the others are beyond ugly... there's no way the udp will let them by without SOME modification.

[ckkelley]

Thanks SFU! Are these the final designs?

I can't say I'm too crazy about 1134 Burrard, which is the one I'm closest to and will likely see at least twice a day. Most of the other ones look pretty good though.

[wrenegade]

1134 is an abomination. Most of them aren't great. 215 West 2nd and 590 Alexander aren't too bad, and 1233-1251 Howe is quite nice. I know they aren't supposed to be super nice or anything, this being social housing, but grey/brown concrete and stucco?

[hollywoodnorth]

thanks for starting this thread

[twoNeurons]

Am I the only one thinking that it's nice not to have green glass?

[WarrenC12]

Cue the architectural snobs...

Nice to see something going at 1050 Expo. That space is a blight. Nice walking distance from the casino too...

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by dleung

Expo looks like a parking garage

Burrard looks like 1960's west end

W 2nd Ave looks boring, with an annoyingly-familiar and desparate splash of colour. reminds me of the cbc building in toronto

Alexander Street is tolerable, but really belongs in the 70's as a radisson hotel

Same for East Broadway, only not so tolerable

7th and Fir can go either way... time will tell

I hope Powell is just a placeholder until they get around to designing it

1251 Howe looks really promising... the design is rational and seems hard to screw up

Realistically, I can only see 1251 Howe, 7th and Fir, Alexander, W 2nd to be built without a major redesign... the others are beyond ugly... there's no way the udp will let them by without SOME modification.

Originally Posted by ckkelley

Thanks SFU! Are these the final designs?

I can't say I'm too crazy about 1134 Burrard, which is the one I'm closest to and will likely see at least twice a day. Most of the other ones look pretty good though.

Originally Posted by awvan

1134 is an abomination. Most of them aren't great. 215 West 2nd and 590 Alexander aren't too bad, and 1233-1251 Howe is quite nice. I know they aren't supposed to be super nice or anything, this being social housing, but grey/brown concrete and stucco?

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Am I the only one thinking that it's nice not to have green glass?

According to the late-18th century philosopher John Locke, upon whose values the Amercican constition is largely based, and, by extension, those of Canda ...... if a person is poor or out work it is THEIR fault, as everyone is reposnsible for his or her own destiny. Therefore, if some must suffer the humiliation of "going home" into one of these utilitarian, unesthetic, and downright ugly buildings, and if therefore, they are viewed with low regard, or even disdain, by society, they can only blame it on themselves.
* * * * * * *
This was supposed to be a satirical, sarcastic remark on mainstream American (and Canadain) social viewpoints. If it in fact was NOT witty, someone will tell me, I am sure.

Just as a coda to this brief missive: the way things are going for me, I'll probably end up in one of them myself, when I return to Vancouver in a few years, depending on the length of the waiting list!!

[wrenegade]

So there are 14 sites, 8 are listed on this page, are the 6 others the following?

West Pender between Homer & Hamilton (north side of the street)
Pender & Abbott
Seymour & Drake (next to the Mark)
Main & Milross (east side of the street)
Main & 1st (SW corner)
Dunbar & 16th (SE corner)

[officedweller]

I think so.

I think it's also Main & 1st Ave. (not 2nd).

[rather_draconian]

I think the majority of them are attractive enough to suit their purpose as social housing. I would question the irony of a social housing building that is styled to be architecturally stunning.

[wrenegade]

The one on Howe, does it take up 3 parcels, from Alto to the Syncor building (5 story office job)?

[cornholio]

The Expo boulevard one looks like it has a strip reserved for the future street car, likely owned by the city. At least thats my guess. Also that site is large enough to support a tower and allot more density, if this social housing building takes up the entire block to the bridge then its a bit of a waste. They should partner with a developer for some extra market housing on the site which would bring in more money.

Hope fully im wrong and this building doesnt take up the whole block and there is a parcel left to the east for more units to be built.

edit: it kind of looks like there might be enough space to the east to fit in a tower later on.

[SFUVancouver]

Taken by SFUVancouver, May 28th, 2010.

[SFUVancouver]

Taken by SFUVancouver, May 28th, 2010.


In light of Woodwards being inthe background:

Affordable units open at Woodwards
The Canadian Press
Last Updated: Friday, May 28, 2010
Source

More than 200 downtown Vancouver apartments that were built to provide affordable rental options for singles, families and people with disabilities are now officially open.

Of the 209 affordable rental units, 125 are single-occupancy suites, 75 are two- and three-bedroom apartments for families and nine are designed for people with disabilities.

Read the full article: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-col...#ixzz0pMjeg569

[SFUVancouver]

Taken by SFUVancouver, May 28th, 2010.

This was the first of the 14 sites to commence construction and it is nearing completion. No renders are posted at the site since we can now see what it will look like. By my count there are about 80 apartments in this building.

[Pinion]

Man I wish I was poor enough to live in some of these buildings/areas (would be if I was single)

Who decided that social housing had to be new developments anyway? Meanwhile I can't even dream of moving out of my 1975 wood frame condo.

[SFUVancouver]

Here's a shot of the crane going up today.

Taken by SFUVancouver, June 3rd, 2010.

I never before really appreciated how much tint there was in SkyTrain Mk1 windows.

[BCPhil]

CBC was nice enough to put them all on a map, with pictures.

http://www.cbc.ca/bc/features/homeless-housing/

WRT the look of the buildings, it's social housing. Top architects should not be paid vast sums of taxpayer money for designs that compete with the best of free market housing.

I would hope that these were designed by architects looking for a start in the business, looking to introduce their own style on Vancouver instead of being insipid carbon copies of the rest of Vancouver. Social housing should be used to introduce new ideas for design to the city landscape, as multi million dollar developers usually aren't willing to take a risk on tarnishing their investment with something too bold and daring. If the attempt falls flat, it's not like it matters, the people who have to live in them don't have much of a choice.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Here's a shot of the crane going up today.

Taken by SFUVancouver, June 3rd, 2010.

I never before really appreciated how much tint there was in SkyTrain Mk1 windows.

u can fix the tint with photoshop my photoshop is on my dead PC hopefully it comes back repaired