Vancouver city councillor wants longer temporary modular home lifespans

Vancouver city councillor calls for longer temporary modular home lifespans

Construction progress on the new temporary modular housing expansion next to SkyTrain Olympic Village Station, as of July 9, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Within the City of Vancouver, temporary modular homes are typically time-limited for up to 10 years, including an initial term of up to five years and a potential extension for a second term of an additional five years.

But OneCity councillor Christine Boyle believes this timeframe is too limited and risks the potential of shedding social and supportive housing supply and exacerbating the homelessness crisis if a replacement supply is not found.

The municipal government’s first temporary modular housing complex — containing 40 units — was built in 2017 at 220 Terminal Avenue (the southeast corner of the intersection of Main Street and Terminal Avenue, next to SkyTrain Main Street-Science World Station).

Since then, with the financial support of senior governments, the number of such sites across the city has grown to about a dozen.

According to Boyle, over 750 units of temporary modular housing in Vancouver carry leases that expire between 2024 and 2028.

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Boyle’s member motion for Vancouver City Council’s consideration this week directs City staff to renew or extend existing leases, with a report back by the second quarter of 2024 and identify potential ways to change the 10-year limit currently allowed by the zoning and development bylaw.

Additionally, City staff will explore new long-term or permanent sites for temporary modular housing buildings where leases cannot be renewed.

“Our homelessness problem is severe — and if we don’t act today to extend these leases, identify new sites, and extend timelines, it is likely to get even worse,” said Boyle in a statement sharing the details of her motion.

larwill place temporary modular housing 610-620 Cambie Street Vancouver

Temporary modular housing on the north side of the Larwill Place city block, next to the future site of the new Vancouver Art Gallery. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

1500 main street vancouver temporary modular housing april 15 2023

Construction progress on the temporary modular housing site of 1500 Main Street, Vancouver, as of April 15, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Temporary modular housing buildings are designed to be relocated and reused.

Such structures are generally built on vacant lands awaiting a future permanent building development, particularly on City-owned lands in many instances.

In some scenarios, temporary modular housing projects have been able to use the property of private developers or lands acquired by non-profit organizations.

A temporary modular housing building was previously placed on a parcel of the Little Mountain lands for about three years until the site was needed for its permanent development project. Temporary modular housing buildings are also currently found at the future development sites of Heather Lands and Pearson-Dogwood, which each provide about 100 units.

In the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood, Lu’ma Native Housing Society is building a temporary modular housing building with about 30 transitional units at 1333 East Georgia Street — on land it recently acquired.

Later this month, the 2018-built Larwill complex of about 100 supportive units will close, with its residents relocating to other supportive housing buildings, as it is required for the construction staging and storage needs of the project to build the Vancouver Art Gallery’s new home on the city block. Construction on the new art gallery is scheduled to begin later this year.

At the moment, a replacement site has not been found for Larwill’s temporary structures.

The final construction works are now being made to Vancouver’s first single-storey temporary modular building sites immediately adjacent to two existing sites at 220 Terminal Avenue and SkyTrain Olympic Village Station after several months of delays. Both sites will provide a combined total of 90 units. Up until now, Vancouver has used multi-storey modular structures up to three storeys.

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