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4mo ago

Vancouver Abandons Kitsilano Supportive Housing Plan After Court Challenge

Mayor Ken Sim plans to work with the province to pinpoint smaller sites for residents in need of mental health, addiction or other support services.

The land at 8th and Arbutus St which was to be the site of a 13-storey public housing development. The city has scrapped plans to build the controversial social housing project.
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Rendering of proposed, now cancelled, public housing project at 2086-2098 W. 7th Ave and 2091. W 8th Ave in Kitsilano in Vancouver. In fall 2022, the neighbourhood group, called the Kitsilano Coalition for Children & Family Safety Society, challenged the public hearing process and rezoning decision. The province, at the request of the city, introduced legislation in 2023 that effectively allowed the project to proceed despite the legal challenge.
A proposed 12 storey social and supportive housing building in Kitsilano will no longer go ahead.

Overview

  • City council rescinded the rezoning for a 129-unit, 13-storey supportive housing building at Arbutus and West 8th after consenting to a judicial review by the Kitsilano Coalition for Children and Family Safety Society.
  • Mayor Ken Sim acknowledged the original site was unsuitable and is seeking two or more smaller projects accommodating 40 to 60 residents each.
  • Opponents had argued the tower’s scale and proximity to a Catholic elementary school and a women’s recovery house made it inappropriate for the neighbourhood.
  • The provincial government under Premier David Eby had championed the development but saw its 2023 law to pre-empt legal challenges struck down as unconstitutional by the B.C. Court of Appeal.
  • Vancouver has halted support for new non-replacement supportive housing projects and continues to oversee seven major builds underway in the Downtown Eastside.