Vancouver slashes Olympic Village social housing

no surprises here.

Nope. No surprise...

Someone explain to me the intelligence of putting social housing on waterfront property though.

Thats not the issue. The issue is that AGAIN, promises arent kept.


I agree with you that you dont need social housing on waterfront property, but then just dont promise you will make it social housing.

Exactly. They could build twice as many units somewhere else, and social housing doesn't need granite counter tops. This was a very stupid idea, that came from the previous, right wing, council, and now the present council is trying to figure out how to make the best of it.

As for Brenda's point - they should build social housing - use the money they get for these condos to build twice as much somewhere else. The problem is that if they do that, those condos would compete on the market with the condos the private builder of all this is trying to sell. They don't want to do that, because they wound having to finance this builder, and they want their money back.

Exactly. They could build twice as many units somewhere else, and social housing doesn't need granite counter tops. This was a very stupid idea, that came from the previous, right wing, council, and now the present council is trying to figure out how to make the best of it.




Bull.. they are starting to realize how much money has been lost,
and are trying to shore up a BS situation.

And they should never have promised it in the first place.



I'll guess that entire project wont have 1 social unit in it in 6 months.

We were waiting

Exactly. They could build twice as many units somewhere else, and social housing doesn't need granite counter tops. This was a very stupid idea, that came from the previous, right wing, council, and now the present council is trying to figure out how to make the best of it.




Bull.. they are starting to realize how much money has been lost,
and are trying to shore up a BS situation.

And they should never have promised it in the first place.



I'll guess that entire project wont have 1 social unit in it in 6 months.

What are you saying bull to? The NPA, which was totally routed in the last election, are the ones who set up and oversaw this deal. And they went with a shaky developer, who had to go to a hedge fund to get financing at high rates. When the recession hit, the hedge fund stopped financing, and the city had to step in and lend him the money to complete construction. Otherwise, no Olympic village, ie housing for athletes. The city should try to maximize the return on this investment.

The present mayor, has done more for the homeless than any past. He's at least managed to open more homeless shelters, and has pressured the province to provide funding to keep the open even in the summer. Building permanent social housing is a huge deal, and required more than just the city, takes senior levels of govt with more "tax room." It was a good idea to invest some of the money the city stood to gain from this project in social housing, but again, do it in a cheaper neighborhood, not on some of the last prime real estate in Vancouver.

The entire project should have exactly 0 social units. But if they do manage to see any profit out of this lousy deal (signed by the previous, "business" ocuncil), they can invest that in housing somewhere they get more bang for the buck.

Because poor people, and in particular, poor immigrants who consistently vote Liberal both before and after they obtain citizenship, have the right to have access to the best possible living conditions so that their self-esteem doesn't suffer from having to live in the same conditions as most of the taxpayers who subsidize their houising for them.

ok andy, we agree that complex wont have any social housing.

"Waterfront" is kinda deceptive in this case. Sure, it is in front of Water, but other than a possible access to a Dock to park a boat, it's just Water(no Beach etc). There is already Social Housing in similar situations in the Lower Mainland, so it's not particularly unique in that regard.