21-storey Kitsilano social housing tower approved by Vancouver City Council | Daily Hive

Concept of 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Brightside Community Homes Foundation)

The northeast corner of the intersection of Arbutus Street and West 5th Avenue in Kitsilano will be redeveloped into a 224-ft-tall, 21-storey, mixed-use social housing tower by Brightside Community Homes Foundation.

Earlier this week, Vancouver City Council unanimously and enthusiastically approved the non-profit housing operator’s rezoning application for 2079-2085 West 5th Ave. The site is located about a six-minute walk north of SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station and 99 B-Line bus exchange, and just south of the West 4th Avenue retail district.

There will be a total of 200 social housing units, with a unit size mix of 113 studios, 27 one-bedroom units, 54 two-bedroom units, and six three-bedroom units.

Additional uses include about 7,400 sq. ft. of office space on the second level for both Brightside and potentially other non-profit organizations, and 2,100 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space on the ground level.

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At least 30 per cent of the social housing units will be rented at deeply affordable rates, but depending on the level of government funding received there could also be a greater degree of affordability for other units.

A portion of these units will also be set aside to provide Brightside’s existing tenants at the property with the opportunity to return to a new home.

Site of 2079-2085 West 5th Avenue, Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

2079-2085 West 5th Avenue Vancouver Kitsilano social housing Brightside

Site of 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Brightside Community Homes Foundation)

Existing condition:

Existing condition of 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept for 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Brightside Community Homes Foundation)

Currently, the development site is occupied by a 1964-built, three-storey Arbutus Court building with 21 apartment units and a single-family house. Brightside acquired the apartment building in 2005, and it is currently tenanted to mainly seniors. But the aging building — which also lacks an elevator, air conditioning, and fire sprinklers — is now in need of replacement. The adjacent house was more recently acquired to avoid it becoming an orphaned property surrounded by towers and to enable a larger social housing development.

Brightside primarily caters to the elderly, providing affordable housing for low-income seniors capable of independent living and their families, as well as people with disabilities.

“Everyone who lives in a Brightside building needs to be able to live without any supports. We’re not staffed,” said William Azaroff, the CEO of Brightside, during the City Council meeting.

This social housing project for seniors capable of independent living should not be confused with supportive housing — specifically, BC Housing’s controversial 13-storey supportive housing development previously planned nearby for 2086–2098 West 7th Ave. and 2091 West 8th Ave., immediately north of the future public transit hub. That project has now been effectively cancelled after the City of Vancouver withdrew its support and rescinded the provision of municipally-owned land.

Along the so-called “housing continuum,” individuals experiencing homelessness, mental health, and/or addiction issues move from being unhoused or in shelters to supportive housing or complex-care housing, and eventually to social housing or rental housing if and when they are capable of independent living.

Concept for 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Brightside Community Homes Foundation)

Although the ABC Vancouver party-led City Council has been highly apprehensive about non-profit operators of supportive housing — due to the challenging conditions often seen inside and outside many supportive housing properties, as well as a perceived lack of accountability from the operators — its response to Brightside and its social housing projects has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I do actually want to thank Brightside and thank the applicant because anytime they bring an application forward to Council, I have confidence that they’re going to deliver the project. They’re going to deliver it well. They are going to take care of the people and they are going to achieve the maximum level of affordability that they can,” said ABC city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung during the deliberations.

“I think Brightside has a demonstrated track record of achieving the maximum affordability, not just at the initiation of new projects, but subsequently working to improve and increase that over time as they’re able to do, while still meeting the responsibilities for maintenance and ensuring that their buildings are running well and functioning well.”

Ken McCree, an elderly tenant who has lived at Brightside’s development site for nearly two decades, praised Azaroff’s organization in his remarks to City Council, describing Brightside as an excellent landlord and operator known for its accountability, responsiveness, and meticulous attention to detail.

“I’ve been living here 17 years and it’s probably the best place I’ve ever lived. People are great. Should be very, very proud of these people. They take care of that building like they owned it. Anything that would help them leave and get it back up again is fine,” said McCree, explaining why City Council should approve the project — but not because he would personally benefit.

“As for myself, I don’t know if you know my age, but I’m well up there and the chances of me being able to get back to the building once it’s built is very slim… I’m saying they’ve done a great, great, great job to do whatever they can to help keep the building going and whatever you could do to help them and help the owners who are very nice. They never refuse anything. You have any problem, they’re there right away. And all I could tell you, they deserve a big hurrah.”

Concept for 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Brightside Community Homes Foundation)

Azaroff shared that for all tenants at the development site — including some residents who are technically ineligible for assistance — Brightside will “go above and beyond” the City’s minimum tenant relocation and assistance policies, both in terms of compensation and support with their physical move. Once the new building is complete, all units will be held to allow existing tenants to visit the space and have maximum choice in selecting a unit if they wish to return.

“If somebody moved into the building three months from now, they would still get that relocation. So everyone will be treated that way,” continued Azaroff.

The new tower’s accessible design and spatial considerations for seniors with extra mobility needs are targeted to achieve a gold certification of accessibility excellence from the Rick Hansen Foundation. To support this, the floor plates will be slightly larger than what is prescribed and stipulated for the site in the City’s Broadway Plan.

Overall, the total building floor area will be about 140,000 sq. ft. The approved floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 10 times larger than the size of the 14,000 sq. ft. lot far exceeds the Broadway Plan’s prescription of up to 6.5 FAR for social housing uses on this site. But City staff have endorsed these variances not only for the enhanced accessibility and livability of the units, but also because of the relatively small lot size for such a development and to balance the Broadway Plan’s “urban design requirements, housing funding requirements, and maintain project viability for a social housing project.” The project’s design firm is Francl Architecture.

Brightside has dozens of social housing buildings across Vancouver and Burnaby, including two other locations in Kitsilano and the recently built 12-storey The Aster tower in Mount Pleasant.

“My understanding is we’re one of few nonprofit providers moving forward this far in the Broadway Plan Corridor. We’re quite excited about this project,” continued Azaroff.

“We look forward to welcoming 200 new households into the Kitsilano neighbourhood, including any of the residents who live there today to come back into the new building.”

Concept for 2079-2085 West 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Brightside Community Homes Foundation)

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