Vancouver city council will consider a proposal Tuesday for a 200-unit social housing tower in Kitsilano.
The project aims to replace a three-storey social housing building owned and operated by Brightside Community Homes, a non-profit that has operated in Vancouver since the 1950s.
The current building at 2085 West Fifth Ave. has 21 units, but Brightside wants to redevelop the site and neighbouring property — which currently has a detached house on it — to build a 21-storey tower.
Current tenants are seniors and will have the opportunity to return to the new building, according to a staff report that says 18 of the 19 residents fall under the City’s tenant relocation and protection policy (TRPP).
“Should this project be approved by council, the applicant will be required to submit a tenant relocation plan for all eligible tenants that meets the requirements of the City’s TRPP for the plan area prior to development permit issuance,” the report said.
The site is comprised of five legal parcels at the northeast corner of West Fifth Avenue and Arbutus Street in Kitsilano. The proposal calls for one level of office space on the second storey that would be used by Brightside “and potentially other non-profit societies in the future.”
The proposal falls under the Broadway Plan, which has triggered a along the Broadway corridor. The Broadway Plan covers the area within Vine Street to Clark Drive and First Avenue to 16th Avenue.
The stated goal of the 30-year plan is to integrate new housing, jobs and amenities around the new Broadway Subway, which is scheduled to open in 2027. The development site is within four blocks of the future Broadway Subway Arbutus Station, and one block from frequent bus service along Fourth Avenue.
The property is also within one block of the Arbutus Greenway.
'Serious investment in infrastructure'
Some of the correspondence received from people about the project has been posted on the City’s website. As of Tuesday morning, 20 people were opposed and eight in support.
Kitsilano resident Curtis Jagelewski wrote that the neighbourhood is not currently equipped to handle a significant increase in population.
Jagelewski said public infrastructure is already strained, with transit options limited and unreliable. He said local schools are at full capacity with many children unable to attend their catchment schools.
Sports teams, swimming programs and the Kitsilano Community Centre are oversubscribed, he said, noting the centre has not seen “meaningful expansion” since the 1960s.
“Before any large-scale developments are approved, there needs to be a serious investment in infrastructure — particularly schools, transit, and community facilities — to ensure existing and future residents can access the services they need,” Jagelewski said.
Teddy Chan, executive director of Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, wrote a letter to council in support of the project, saying his organization has previously partnered with Brightside to provide community services for residents.
“Brightside has also been a key supporter of Kits House’s own housing services, in knowledge sharing and mentoring of their operations framework,” Chan said.
“Brightside’s proposal to redevelop their property at 5th and Arbutus — just four blocks from the Kitsilano Neighbourhood House — will have a meaningful impact on housing affordability in the community.”
The public hearing comes as staff is collecting feedback from citizens on the City’s a plan to allow 15-20-storey social housing towers in areas from West Point Grey to Boundary Road.
The proposed initiative stems from a motion city council passed in December 2022, which directed staff to reduce barriers to building non-profit, co-operative and social housing, and allowing it to be built without rezoning in every neighbourhood.
Thirteen-storey Kits tower quashed
that the City quashed the rezoning of a City-owned property in Kitsilano that a previous council approved in July 2022 to have a 13-storey social housing tower built on the site.
The decision was made in April by the City’s legal department in conjunction with city council at an in-camera meeting, but details didn’t emerge until a residents’ group shared the news May 26 via its website.
The property on Arbutus Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, was to provide 129 subsidized units for people without homes, at risk of homelessness or those displaced from low-income housing, as well as citizens who may be working and earning low incomes.
The project was met with opposition led by the Kitsilano Coalition for Children and Family Safety, which had concerns over the scale of the project and the concentration of people with mental health and addiction challenges proposed to live in one building.
Mayor Ken Sim released a statement at the time that said: “It’s clear this location wasn’t the right fit for the scale and type of housing that was proposed. While we won’t speculate on the future of the site, we fully believe in the important role that both supportive and social housing play in Vancouver’s diverse housing mix.”
The public hearing for the West Fifth Avenue proposal will be held in the council chamber and begins at 6 p.m.
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