Tag: housing

Port Moody council rejects call to designate old sawmill site for a waterfront park

A 31-acre site on Port Moody’s waterfront won’t be set aside for a park.

But the city will look at implementing a requirement any future development of the property immediately west of Rocky Point Park include “a large, contiguous” park space.

Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti said including such a requirement in the city’s new official community plan (OCP) will send a message to potential developers of the property that building “a bunch of small pocket parks” won’t pass muster.

“I do think we should be articulating what we want to see down there in terms of park,” Lahti said during a special meeting of council Tuesday, Oct. 7, that passed first reading of the draft OCP.

The document maps Port Moody’s growth and aspirations by guiding its planning and land use decisions and policies for the next 25 years.

Coun. Diana Dilworth said a motion to designate as a “special study area” the waterfront property where the Flavelle cedar sawmill formerly operated for more than 100 years would essentially re-litigate a decision made by council on 2018 allowing its redevelopment into a high-density, mixed-use neighbourhood for more than 7,000 residents.

“I don’t see the value in rehashing this now,” Dilworth said of the former industrial property that had been a special study area prior to its 2018 redesignation. “We have the opportunity to negotiate with the owner, and I do believe that’s a better option than downzoning the property to park.”

Redevelopment plans since 2015

Flavelle’s owner, Surrey-based AP Group, had championed redevelopment of the mill site since 2015 but has yet to act on any of its plan that includes 11 towers ranging from 16 to 38 storeys, a low-rise rental building, retail, office and light industrial spaces as well as the future possibility of a hotel and congregate care facility. The company also pledged to dedicate almost a quarter of the site to public park space, including a boardwalk along the shore linked to Rocky Point Park.

AP Group closed the sawmill in 2020 and quickly dismantled its industrial structures. Since then the vacant property has been used for various film and TV productions, including the acclaimed Shogun limited series that won several Emmy Awards in 2024.

Coun. Haven Lurbiecki, who introduced the motion, said rather than laying fallow, the old sawmill property should become an extension of the 9.5-acre Rocky Point Park, especially as Port Moody’s population grows.

“Let us go back to the community to come up with a plan that better meets the needs of the community,” Lurbiecki said.

But Coun. Kyla Kowles said such a strategy is already in the works after council approved a new master plan for the city’s iconic waterfront park last November that makes its expansion a priority.

“This council has stated clearly over and over again that expansion of Rocky Point Park is a major priority and that has not changed,” she said.

Coun. Amy Lubik said the park’s expansion to the west is a work in progress.

“We haven’t seen a development application yet and I think we’ll see lots of changes,” she said. “Expanding Rocky Point Park will be a part of the site’s redevelopment.”

Tower heights stay maxed at 39 storeys

MARIO BARTEL PHOTO A draft of Port Moody’s new official community plan formalizes a framework to allow towers up to 39 storeys in the neighbourhood immediately around the Moody Centre SkyTrain station.

Meanwhile, another motion introduced by Lurbiecki to scale back development plans in the draft OCP for the neighbourhood immediately surrounding the Moody Centre SkyTrain station also failed to gain traction.

Lurbiecki said formalizing a maximum tower height of 39 storeys for the neighbourhood in the document “invites land speculation” and restricts the city’s ability to negotiate with developers for enhanced amenities like daycare spaces in exchange for allowing higher density.

Lurbiecki said a maximum of up to 20 storeys as outlined in provincial housing legislation mandating the construction of high-density development around mass transit stations should suffice.

“These heights exceed provincial legislation requirements,” she said. “No-one is buying these condos. We’re sitting in a market where thousands of these are sitting empty.”

But Port Moody’s manager of policy planning, Mary De Paoli, said council has already set the bar at 39 storeys with the development framework it had previously adopted to help create a true city core and reducing it to 20 storeys would limit the city’s ability to achieve any amenities in the neighbourhood. Recently, Vancouver-based PCI Development started site preparation for two 39-storey rental towers next to the SkyTrain station that were approved by council in April.

Dilworth said ultimately the market will decide appropriate density.

“If condos aren’t going to sell, buildings won’t get built,” she said.

Podiums to be studied

An additional motion to remove a requirement towers in the Moody Centre neighbourhood be constructed atop podiums of three to six storeys did, however, find mixed favour amongst councillors. While such podiums won’t be required in the new OCP, staff will study the implications of mandating their height requirements.

De Paoli cautioned removing the podium requirement presents “a significant shift” that would likely result in taller towers.

“There will be pressure to put density somewhere,” she said, adding podiums are also an attractive landing spot for amenities like retail and commercial spaces.

Knowles said the decision to build atop a podium should be left to the developer.

“Wouldn’t we want to remain open to a developer coming forward with a new design?” she said.

Dilworth agreed.

“This provides some flexibility,” she said.

Other tweaks to be integrated into the draft OCP prior to second reading later this fall include:

  • removing several aging townhomes on the south side of Dewdney Trunk Road between St. Johns Street and Viewmount Drive from a special study area that covers the entirety of St. Johns’ south side from Clarke Road to the Coquitlam border
  • designating the site currently occupied by Port Moody Elementary school to be parkland when construction of the new elementary school further east on St. Johns Street is completed

OCP process started in 2020

The process to craft Port Moody’s new OCP began in 2020 but had to be paused in 2024 to allow staff to integrate elements of new provincial housing requirements. A revised first draft was presented to council in July.

One said it’s imperative recreation facilities like ice rinks keep pace with anticipated growth while another feared Port Moody would become “a city of towers, from one end of St. Johns to the other, tower after tower and tower.”

A third speaker cautioned council its decisions around the OCP will “define the identity of Port Moody for generations to come.”

Once the draft document passes second reading, it will be referred to external agencies like Metro Vancouver for further comment prior to a public hearing expected some time in December.

Final adoption could occur by March, 2026, said De Paoli.

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Housing prices squeezing families, seniors and immigrants: study

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on Sept. 21, 2021

Port Moody has plenty of housing getting built or in the process of being approved to meet projected regional growth targets.

But the city needs more diversity of housing options to keep it affordable for families, single people, low income earners, immigrants and people with disabilities, says a study by community planning and development consultant, CitySpaces Consulting.

According to the study, which is to be presented to council Sept. 21, the gap between what households can afford to pay for housing in Port Moody and the housing that is available is growing.

Since 2013, the median sales prices of single-detached homes and townhouses have nearly doubled. Rents have also skyrocketed at a similar pace, and the vacancy rate for units with three or more bedrooms is currently 0 per cent. As a result, one in five residents are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing costs, a level that is considered a standard measure of affordability.

“Housing is becoming more expensive and fewer residents are able to enter the home ownership market,” said the report, adding Port Moody’s housing situation isn’t about a lack of dwellings to be built, or land where they can be located. Rather, there isn’t enough diversity of housing, including more affordable housing options, as well as accessible and family-friendly units.

Renters, who comprise one-quarter of city residents, are also struggling with higher costs and less availability, said the report. The median rent in Port Moody is now more than $1,000 per month while the vacancy rate for all units is between 0.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent — a healthy vacancy rate is between one and three per cent.

“Some households may be able to find a rental unit for less than $1,000 a month, but this typically comes with trade-offs such as being in poorer quality condition, further away from public transit and amenities and may not be suitable to meet their needs,” said the report.

But as Port Moody strains under the same market forces that afflict the entire Tri-Cities area, there are still ways to turn the tide.

“For Port Moody, the number of units being developed is keeping pace with demand,” said the report. “However, consideration to adjust the mix and secure rental housing and affordable units is a key area of opportunity.”

According to CitySpaces, zoning bylaws in Port Moody often don’t mesh with land designations, creating challenges to build viable developments without expensive lot consolidations, and some areas of the city are falling short of their potential to accommodate new, more diverse housing. Developers, the consultant said, require certainty and standardized policy in development expectations and incentives, as well as expedited processes to move approvals along.

And that could require more staff, said the report.

“It appears that the local government may need to scale-up staffing levels to match the scale of development to not only move projects through the process in a timely manner, but to also ensure that opportunities to capture units for affordability is not missed.”

The study was commissioned by Port Moody in 2020 to fulfill new regulations under the provincial Local Government Act for municipalities to complete housing needs reports by 2022, and then subsequent reports every five years after that. The consulting company used data from various sources including Statistics Canada, BC Assessment and BC Housing, as well as an online survey, virtual workshops, interviews and a workshop with city staff.

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Massive Anmore development proposal put on hold at the last minute

A proposed development that would almost triple Anmore’s population has been put on hold.

Less than 15 minutes prior to Monday’s scheduled public hearing into an application by Icona Properties to amend the village’s official community plan so its proposal could proceed, Greg Moore, the company’s CEO, announced on social media it’s taking a break.

“We’ve made the decision to withdraw our current application for Anmore South,” said Moore on Facebook. “This break will allow us to explore a path forward that brings more unity than discord.”

cona was seeking approval to construct 1,750 new townhouses, low-rise apartments and single-family homes on 150 acres of property the company owns near the corner of 1st Avenue and Sunnyside Road.

On June 10, Anmore council voted 5-1 to send the proposal to a public hearing that was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., Monday, June 23.

The development plan has drawn consternation from residents of the bucolic village of 2,200 residents, as well as the neighbouring communities of Port Moody and Belcarra.

A group called the Anmore Neighbours Community Association (ANCA) said Icona’s plan poses “significant financial risks” to the village.

ANCA’s Rod Rempel and Harriette Chang said a consulting company’s estimate it would cost the developer $30 million to construct services like water, sewer and storm drainage could end up leaving Anmore taxpayers on the hook.

Residents also expressed concerns about increased traffic, higher costs for policing and fire services, as well as public safety because the two access roads into and out of the village could become blocked or overwhelmed in an emergency like a wildfire.

Port Moody and Belcarra shared similar trepidation.

In a letter sent to Anmore council in May, Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti said neither the village nor developer had yet to initiative discussions about utility upgrades, most of which would be routed through its urban neighbour.

“If the village is interested in partnering on this infrastructure, time is of the essence,” she said.

Belcarra Mayor Jamie Ross said traffic and construction activity during the development’s 25-year built-out would also be a hardship on his village.

Anmore councillor Doug Richardson, who cast the only dissenting vote to move Icona’s proposal forward, said the project “is not needed.”

But supporters on council countered the village needs to do its part to address Metro Vancouver’s housing crisis by providing “more affordable” options.

Anmore Mayor John McEwen said development of the property is inevitable.

“Change is happening and we want to have a say in how it gets developed.”

In his statement, Moore acknowledged the division his company’s plan has incited.

“This was never our intent,” he said. “In fact, it’s the opposite of what we set out to do.”

Moore said Icona wants to create “a people-first community” that’s “more connected and more compassionate.”

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Anmore residents’ group concerned as massive development proposal goes to public hearing

A group opposed to a proposed development in South Anmore says even a scaled-down version of the project still isn’t realistic.

Rod Rempel and Harriette Chang, of the Anmore Neighbours Community Association (ANCA), said the plan by Port Moody-based Icona Properties to build 1,750 new homes on 150 acres of property the company owns near the corner of 1st Avenue and Sunnyside Road presents “significant financial risks” to the village and its 2,200 residents.

Tuesday, June 10, Anmore council voted 5-1 to send the proposal to a public hearing on Monday, June 23, prior to its consideration the next night of third reading for an amendment to the village’s official community plan bylaw required for the development to proceed.

The extraordinary scheduling is in anticipation of a long night that could stretch to council’s regular meeting on June 24.

It’s also a month later than originally envisioned by Anmore Mayor John McEwen in April when council approved a timetable that included a community survey, workshops with various village committees, and an open house.

McEwen said council wanted to collect “as much feedback as we can” about the project, which the developer had slimmed down from 2,200 homes on May 27.

Those economies were achieved by trimming the number of standalone apartment buildings up to six storeys tall from 22 to 10 while adding another 200 ground-oriented townhomes from the original 760.

The project would also include a small strip of commercial units as well as a smaller 16,000 sq. ft. recreation centre, a 9.3-acre park and four kilometres of nature trails and greenways.

Too much

Rempel and Chang said it’s still too much.

They said a consulting company’s estimate that it will cost Icona $30 million to extend services like water, sewer and storm drainage to the development isn’t achievable and could leave Anmore taxpayers on the hook for any budget increases, especially given Port Moody’s objections to constructing any of that infrastructure along Ioco Road or through Bert Flinn Park, the two closest corridors to the proposed development.

In a letter sent to Anmore council in May, Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti said the city has yet to have any discussions with the village about accommodating possible utility upgrades.

“If the village is interested in partnering on this infrastructure, time is of the essence.”

Lahti said Port Moody also won’t entertain any thoughts of widening Ioco Road in anticipation of increased traffic to and from the new development.

“Without a realistic and coordinated transportation strategy, the Icona development risks overwhelming the existing network in the area,” she said.

Belcarra also concerned

Neighbouring Belcarra expressed similar concerns about construction management and transportation plans in a letter sent to Anmore on April 1.

Mayor Jamie Ross said Icona hasn’t addressed the impact its proposal would have on Bedwell Bay Road, Belcarra’s only road access point, nor has it provided a plan to manage stormwater during construction and once the development is completed.

Rempel and Chang said the scale of the project and its infrastructure requirements could quickly overwhelm Icona.

“This developer has never delivered a project of this scale in British Columbia,” they said. “Anmore citizens want to ensure we are not being unilaterally committed to future risks and costs.”

‘A complete Anmore’

But Paul Fenske, a principal of Placemark Design and Development, that’s working with Icona, said the proposal for Anmore South will provide the village with more diverse housing options and expanded tax base.

“It’s a vision for a complete Anmore,” he said.

Planning consultant Tim Savoie, who was formerly Port Moody’s city manager, said Icona’s plan “offers a unique opportunity to develop this site.”

Still, Coun. Doug Richardson said, “it’s not needed.”

In casting the only vote against moving the proposal forward, he added Icona’s proposal flies against Metro Vancouver planning guidelines to concentrate dense development around mass transit stations.

Richardson said the developer also doesn’t adequately address increased costs for police, fire and recreation services the village could face as its population more than doubles.

“I can’t support this in any way,” he said.

Coun. Paul Wevering, however, said Anmore has to do its part to address the region’s housing crisis by providing “more affordable” options.

“We’ve got a strategic plan that talks about different forms of housing, but we don’t really do anything about it,” he said, adding Icon’s plan offers “a future vision for this community.”

The June 23 public hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at Anmore’s Community Hub (2697 Sunnyside Rd.).

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Port Moody says proposed Anmore development presents ‘significant concerns’

A proposed development that could triple the population of the village of Anmore will have deleterious impacts on Port Moody’s utilities infrastructure, traffic, environment, wildlife, parks and recreation facilities, says the city’s mayor.

Meghan Lahti says a plan by developer Icona Properties to build 2,200 new homes on 150 acres of property the company owns at the corner of 1st Avenue and Sunnyside Road will even increase the risk of a human-caused wildfire by further expanding into the wildland-urban interface.

The draft assessment, to be considered for endorsement by Port Moody council at its meeting on Tuesday, May 27, expands on a preliminary review of Icona’s development proposal sent by Lahti to Anmore at the end of March, along with a request for more time so city staff could thoroughly evaluate several technical studies that weren’t made publicly available until April 10.

While Anmore council agreed to extend its deadline for Port Moody to submit its comments to April 30, several members were irked.

“We can’t let another municipality drive our decisions,” said Coun. Polly Krier.

“They seem to be getting overly involved in Anmore’s business,” added Coun. Kim Trowbridge.

In the latest assessment, that spans 10 pages, Lahti details a number of “significant concerns” with the proposed project, which requires an amendment to Anmore’s official community plan (OCP) along with agreement from Metro Vancouver to expand the region’s urban containment boundary before it can proceed.

More infrastructure for utilities

They include significant expansion of infrastructure like water, sewer and drainage services in Anmore, much of which would have to be built through Port Moody.

But, said Lahti, the village has yet to engage its neighbour to explore how such construction might proceed, where it could occur and how it would be paid for.

“While coordination with the city could be explored if a coordinating or shared project is identified, no such discussions have taken place to date,” Lahti said.

She added Port Moody is currently upgrading water and sewage infrastructure along Ioco Road and any further work to accommodate growth in Anmore would require full resurfacing of the busy roadway.

“If the village is interested in partnering on this infrastructure, time is of the essence.”

Lahti also said an alternate routing of utility services through Bert Flinn Park is a non-starter because of its designation as a park and the risk to environmentally sensitive areas like Mossom Creek.

“Adding an additional 4,500 residents in close proximity to Bert Flinn Park will add pressure on the natural environmental values of this park,” she said.

Strain on road network

Adding so many new residents would also strain the only two roads — Ioco Road and East Road — that connect Anmore to the rest of Metro Vancouver.

Lahti said the routes could only support about 40 per cent of the anticipated traffic the new development would generate without significant upgrades. But physical constraints like topography, property accesses and limited capacity at some intersection make them unfeasible.

Suggestions put forth in the technical reports to ease traffic along the two-lane roadways, like the construction of bus laybys and increasing transit service also aren’t realistic, said Lahti. The former poses safety and livability concerns while Translink hasn’t confirmed any plans for the latter.

A possible private shuttle service operated to link residents of the new development to transit in Port Moody would also have to run all day to be effective, Lahti said.

“Without a realistic and coordinated transportation strategy, the Icona development risks overwhelming the existing network in the area,” she said.

That assessment echoes an independent review of the proposed development’s traffic impacts conducted by Port Coquitlam transportation engineer Alon Weinberger on behalf of the Anmore Neighbours Community Association.

He said vehicle trips during peak hours on weekday afternoons would be almost double the estimate provided in the technical study commissioned by Icona. And the numbers would only increase further on warm summer weekends when visitors from around the region flock to Buntzen Lake and Belcarra Regional Park.

Environment and wildlife also impacted

Lahti said Port Moody’s environment and wildlife would also be negatively impacted by the proposed development, including the water quality of Schoolhouse Creek’s watershed, increased risk of erosion along its banks, decline in forest health because of changes in light availability and fewer trees and a narrowing of wildlife corridors.

As well, Lahti said, Port Moody will bear the pressure of more residents accessing its parks, playgrounds, sports fields and recreational amenities like its pools and arena as the proposed development includes only one park, a 5 km network of greenways for casual users and a 20,000 sq. ft. community centre that likely won’t include a pool or ice surface.

“The future residents will need to leave Anmore to meet these needs,” Lahti said.

As part of its process to consider Icona’s proposal, Anmore also solicited comments from Belcarra, local First Nations, TransLink, Metro Vancouver, Fraser Health, BC Ambulance, RCMP, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and village residents.

Anmore planning consultant Tim Savoie, who recently retired as Port Moody’s city manager, said all interested parties will have more opportunities to provide commentary if the development proposal gets to a public hearing and again if its referred to Metro Vancouver for its approval to expand the urban containment boundary.

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Could Port Moody’s biggest-ever development project get even bigger?

The company building Port Moody’s largest-ever development project wants to make it even bigger.

Dean Johnson, the vice-president of development for Vancouver-based Wesgroup Properties, told council’s city initiatives and planning committee Tuesday, May 20, that it will need to add a seventh residential tower to the six already approved as part of its expansive 14.8-acre Inlet District project in the former Coronation Park neighbourhood.

Johnson said the additional density is required to offset recent changes to rules about development cost charges (DCCs) levied by Metro Vancouver that help pay for regional infrastructure like water, sewers and drainage.

He said those changes will cost the company an additional $30 million for its Inlet District development that currently comprises more than 2,500 new homes in six residential towers up to 31 storeys along with three low-rise buildings, a four-storey office building, as well as a grocery store and daycare facility, all built around a 2.5-acre central park.

“This cost is something we have to deal with in this project,” Johnson said, adding it was unforeseen last July, when Wesgroup achieved final approval from council for the zoning amendments required for the development’s first phase to proceed.

Johnson said if the company can’t build an additional tower, it may have to cut back on some of the project’s amenities to help offset its increased costs. Those include:

  • $6 million towards construction of a new pedestrian overpass across Ioco Road to the Inlet Centre SkyTrain station
  • a 186 sq. m. civic facility for community use
  • $4.8 million of public art
  • more than $8 million in community amenity contributions

Johnson said the seventh tower would be part of a future phase of the project’s construction, which is already underway and is expected to take about 25 years to complete.

Johnson’s preliminary pitch rankled at least one Port Moody councillor.

Haven Lurbiecki said it’s “irresponsible” and accused the developer of “moving the goalposts now.”

At one point during the project’s protracted journey through council’s approval process that commenced when Wesgroup finished acquiring the last of 59 mid-century single-family homes that formerly occupied the site in 2019, the company had hurled a similar charge.

In 2022, Wesgroup’s senior development manager, Evan French, expressed frustration at Port Moody’s implementation of a new inclusionary zoning policy that requires at least 15 per cent of units in dense new developments be affordable rentals shortly after it had received approvals for changes to the city’s official community plan so the project could proceed and just as it was preparing to apply for necessary zoning amendments.

And while those zoning amendments were ultimately passed by council in Dec., 2023, without a requirement for affordable housing units, Wesgroup did provide a letter of intent that it would continue working to secure such a component.

Tuesday, Johnson said those efforts have borne some fruit.

He said a program through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation that provides low-cost financing for the construction of affordable apartments could mean all 288 units in the project’s second tower could become rental apartments, with 20 per cent of them available at below-market rates.

Johnson said Wesgroup had previously tapped into the program for projects it built in other communities like Burnaby and New Westminster.

“We are very familiar with this framework and we’re really excited about bringing this to Port Moody.”

But, Johnson added, time is running short and an endorsement letter from the city would speed the process, a request councillors readily granted.

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Port Moody home relocation means more memories can be built

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on April 2, 2024

Wendy Kinloch’s realtor questioned her sanity 34 years ago when she and her husband purchased the run-down rancher at 120 Windsor Dr. In Port Moody’s Coronation Park neighbourhood.

The single-storey home with a round fireplace in the middle of the living room had seen better days. But it offered more space to raise a family than their cramped townhouse in North Vancouver

“We knew it needed a lot of love,” said Kinloch.

Over the years, it got just that.

Almost every interior wall was rebuilt. The sundeck out back was replaced. The kitchen and bathrooms were renovated.

The house with green wood siding returned that love.

The Kinlochs raised two children there, and the myriad of their friends and visitors, who climbed the growing trees in the neighbourhood, ran through the sprinkler in the yard, drew with chalk on the street out front. They made connections with their neighbours, got involved in the community at Coronation Park School nearby.

“We looked out for each other,” Kinloch said. “It was just the greatest neighbourhood.”

So when Kinloch attended a special ceremony Tuesday, April 2, in front of her old home, which will be one of 10 from Coronation Park being sent by truck and barge to a second life for families in the shishalh Nation near Sechelt, she was sure to pack plenty of tissues.

MARIO BARTEL/TRI-CITY NEWS Wendy Kinloch gets emotional as she talks to councillors from the shishalh Nation near Sechelt that will be the new home for 10 homes from the old Coronation Park neighbourhood in Port Moody, including hers.

The homes are in the way of a new development project by Vancouver-based Wesgroup Properties that will transform the 14.8-acre neighbourhood into a dense, urban community with six residential high-rises up to 31 stories, three six-storey buildings and a four-storey office building.

While 49 homes will be demolished, a deal to save some of the homes was brokered by a company called Renewal Development in conjunction with Wesgroup and Maple Ridge-based Nickel Bros. that has more than 50 years experience moving buildings.

Kinloch, who relocated to a new home in Anmore last October, said knowing her home has received a second lease on life made it easier to return to her former neighbourhood where several houses have already been cleared and many trees removed.

She said it’s like a circle of life. “I didn’t want to come back to this neighbourhood to see it demolished.”

Renewal Development’s Glyn Lewis, said the transportation of the first two homes scheduled to take place overnight tonight is the closure of one chapter and the opening of the next.

“It’s a beautiful story.”

Lewis has been working on his plan to reclaim and repurpose homes in the way of redevelopment for about seven years. He said with the increasing cost of new construction and the environmental toll of demolition, it makes sense to recycle structurally sound buildings.

After a couple of successful projects moving a home from Coquitlam to Upper Gibsons and an old single-room schoolhouse from Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood to the Squamish Nation where it’s been converted into a children’s education centre, it was time to scale up and put the lessons learned through those two ventures into practice. He said he’s hopeful the project will help change the fate of the approximately 2,700 homes that are demolished in Metro Vancouver every year.

“Intention and thoughtfulness can shape the direction of change,” Lewis said.

Lenora Joe, the chief of the shishalh Nation, said her community is excited to be at the leading edge of that change.

MARIO BARTEL/TRI-CITY NEWS Members of the shishalh Nation near Sechelt give their thanks for 10 homes that are being moved to their community from Port Moody’s old Coronation Park neighbourhood.

Almost half the 1,600 people that comprise the shishalh aren’t able to live in the community because of its dearth of suitable and affordable housing; 200 families are on a waiting list to get new homes.

Reclaiming and moving homes is 30 to 70 per cent cheaper than constructing them new. And robust mid-century construction materials and techniques ensure the homes the shishalh are getting will last for generations to come, Joe said.

That continuity is important, she added.

“For us, it’s a new place,” Joe said. “But we’re also able to honour the history of the homes and respect that process.”

Darlene Hadden, whose home at 109 Windsor is another on the move to the shishalh Nation, said being able to see it welcomed elsewhere helps ease the emotional sting of leaving it behind.

Hadden said the house her family called home for almost 40 years was the epicentre for Christmas, birthday and wedding celebrations. Its walls contain memories of her two kids stealthily jumping out their windows so they could play in the expansive yard and forbidden skateboard adventures up and down the street.

“A house we loved, someone else will be able to love,” she said. “It means everything.”

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The struggle for affordable housing and what it meant when a Coquitlam woman found it

This story was originally published in the Tri-City News Nov. 10, 2024

Frances Stone had never lived in a home that requires a security fob or a building that has an elevator.

Recently, she and her teenage daughter moved into a gleaming two-bedroom-plus-den condo in Anthem Properties’ new SOCO project just off North Road in Coquitlam.

How Stone got there is a study in transformational importance of securing safe, affordable housing.

Stone and her daughter were living in a walk-up rental building in uptown New Westminster when her landlord informed her she needed to move so a family member could move in.

Stone, an addictions counsellor, considered uprooting to Alberta where the provincial government is offering financial incentives to newcomers and rents are much cheaper.

Then a friend told her about a partnership between the Affordable Housing Society and Vancouver-based developer Anthem Properties that would make 18 rental homes in two new condo towers in Coquitlam available at rates geared to tenants’ income.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.(CMHC), that means a tenant pays 30 per cent or less of their gross income for rent.

Secure future

Stone said since moving into her new home in August, it’s the first time in her adult life she’s felt secure about her future.

So much so, Stone said she’s in the final stages of adopting a rescue dog to add to her family, something she’s wanted to do for years but failed to pursue because of her ongoing housing uncertainty.

That’s music to the ears of Stephen Bennett, CEO of the Affordable Housing Society.

He said being able to live in a safe, affordable home impacts every aspect of a person’s life.

“We don’t understand what a lack of choice means for people,” he said. “Because it’s so unaffordable out there, people are stuck.”

Best interests of the community

As municipalities across B.C. strive to attain housing targets recently mandated by the provincial government, they’re also wrestling with the challenge of ensuring those homes can be accessed by a broad spectrum of residents.

“We still have to predicate all of our decisions based on what is in the best interest of our community as a whole,” said Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti about the pressure to approve the construction of more homes.

Bennett said affordability can only be achieved when all levels of government work together to provide necessary funding because the cost of constructing homes has spiralled so high. He said without subsidies and grants from programs through agencies like BC Housing, BC Builds and CMHC, rent for apartments could be as much as $5,000 a month.

‘It can often be a tightrope’

Melissa Howey, Anthem’s vice-president of development, said companies like hers are feeling the pressure as well, as they look to deliver housing stock that meets communities’ needs.

“It is balancing the costs, the availability of density,” she said. “It can often be a tightrope to walk.”

Howey said inflationary pressures and constraints on capital are making that tightrope even tauter.

Inclusionary zoning policies and negotiations for additional density can help spur developers to find creative solutions that will allow them to include affordable units in their projects, but the long process to get approvals means the landscape is always shifting.

“Every municipality operates differently,” Howey said, adding the navigation of those varying procedures comes with more layers of expense.

“It can be a challenge to deliver the other forms of housing in a project at somewhat affordable rates.”

In fact, Anthem recently had to scale back a plan to designate half the 128 units in a rental building its seeking to build in Port Moody to just 13. The company said its original intent proved “financially unviable.”

Complicated process

Bennett said his society is always working to devise new models to help fund affordable units, sometimes pooling financial contributions from several agencies.

But, he said, “to pull all those pieces together is exceedingly complicated and it takes a lot of work.”

Stone said she’s keenly aware of the challenge to provide enough affordable housing.

Prior to losing her apartment in New Westminster, she’d been on the BC Housing waiting list for five years. She said she’d also applied to every co-op in Metro Vancouver but “nothing was available.”

“It was pretty hopeless,” Stone said.

Now that she’s settled in her new home, though, Stone is starting to take advantage of her building’s host of luxurious amenities, like its indoor basketball/badminton court, the games and community room that features a full kitchen, a gym and yoga studio as well as an outdoor garden atop the parkade with seating areas, play structures and several gas barbecues. She said she’s keen to start a podcast that she can record in the building’s special sound room as well.

It’s a lifestyle Stone never imagined for herself.

“I would never have been able to work hard enough to live in a building like this,” she said. “It changes your perception of yourself.”

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How this white van delivers health care to homeless populations in the Tri-Cities, Burnaby and New West

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on March 15, 2024

A nondescript white panel van is delivering relief to homeless populations in the Tri-Cities, Burnaby, New Westminster and Maple Ridge.

Sometimes it even helps save a life.

During a recent visit to the 3030 Gordon shelter in Coquitlam, medical professionals from the Integrated Homelessness Action Response Team (IHART) mobilized when a man overdosed on the sidewalk.

As his worried street buddies gathered round and coaxed the man to wake up, registered and practical nurses administered naloxone and notified emergency services. After several tense moments he was responsive and sitting up. Minutes later he walked away, getting on with his day as if nothing unusual had occurred.

While the IHART program has been operating since 2022, it’s been bringing its suite of health care, mental health and outreach services to the streets in a van since January.

Lower barriers

The program’s co-ordinator, Paolo Palomar, said the idea is to lower barriers to obtaining health care for a population that would otherwise have none.

The mobile team that functions five days a week is comprised of nurses, clinicians, as well as peer support, outreach and social workers.

“We’re able to give wrap-around support,” Palomar said.

Sometimes that means distributing requisitions for blood work.

Sometimes it requires cleaning and dressing infections or providing counselling. Sometimes it’s just handing out a cup of warm coffee.

“We try not to say ‘no’ to anyone who needs help,” Palomar said.

The IHART team travels to homeless encampments, shelters and church parking lots across the northern communities of the Fraser Health district while a second team helps out in eastern communities like Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Agassiz and Hope. The service is also being extended to Surrey.

Relationship of trust

The vans follow a regular schedule so clients can anticipate their visits, Palomar said.

It also helps them build a relationship of trust, he added.

Twice a month the team offers special foot care clinics as homeless populations often have to deal with a condition called “street feet” because their shoes and socks are wet from the rain and snow.

The frontline care can help alleviate the chronic nature of health disparities the homeless population experience, said Fraser Health clinical operations director Sherif Amara.

“The vans provide an additional tool to bring care further into these remote, often secluded, settings.”

Palomar said it can also be the stepping stone to more comprehensive care and possibly even the start of a journey off the streets.

“We’re trying to bridge the gap,” he said.

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