The New Little Mountain project has been on my blogging backburner for at least a couple of months. There’s a lot of changes afoot in the neighbourhood at East 37th Avenue and Ontario Street.
Originally, the whole plot of land was social housing. It was the first social housing project of its kind. I personally know of a couple of people who grew up in what they affectionately called “The Projects.”
After I had taken a few photos of the boarded up homes, the place was demolished except for a couple of lone buildings where residents refused to leave.
Today, there is the single non-market social housing building on the site. From what I understand, some of original residents of Little Mountain were moved to other housing in the city and region. Some of those original residents have now moved back to Little Mountain and now live at the single 4-storey building in the southeast corner of the site.
However, the rest of site is completely empty. However, if the Rezoning Application is approved, then the face of the neighbourhood will change. The once spacious townhouse sites will be replaced with mostly 4-6 storey buildings with six 10 – 12 storeys towers.
The primary social housing components are in the southeast corner and one other building along East 33rd Avenue. They will have a total of 282 non-market units.
Some sources say that the number of social housing units has not been added to on the site. So basically, there’s been no net gain compared to when the site was just rowhouses and townhouses. All the gains are essentially new market housing. David talks about this matter in this Vimeo clip:
Whatever your stance on the new Little Mountain project, there are quite a few changes happening at the corner of 37th Avenue and Ontario Street. Some might be looking forward to a chance to buy a condo that’s all walking distance to Queen Elizabeth Park, Hillcrest Community, and the Main Street retail. Others will be disappointed that a social housing site has been converted to primarily expensive market housing that original residents cannot afford.
We’ll see how it all unfolds. Those who want to participate in a discussion can go to PlaceSpeak and voice their opinions on their forum about the new Little Mountain.
External Links:
- City of Vancouver: Little Mountain site planning program
- City of Vancouver: Holborn rezoning application [PDF]
- Holborn Properties: Little Mountain Rezoning Information
- The Little Mountain Project: A hyperlocal documentary project, an experiment in community engagement, an activist and advocacy site for social and affordable housing in Canada
- CBC.ca: Vancouver’s Little Mountain housing plans finally on display (Nov 28, 2015)
metro babel 