Residents plan rally, calling on B.C. government to 'take back Little Mountain'
Credit to Author: Dan Fumano| Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 02:03:31 +0000
David Chudnovsky was among the protesters in 2009 as Vancouver’s first social housing development was torn down. Saturday he’ll be back at the site — which, exactly a decade later, still sits mostly empty — with many of those same activists, calling on the provincial government to “take back Little Mountain.”
The previous provincial government’s decision to sell the six-hectare Little Mountain social housing development to a private developer has been controversial since its announcement in 2008. Chudnovsky, as the B.C. NDP’s housing critic at that time, harshly criticized the Liberal government. Chudnovsky is no longer an MLA but has continued to push government for action on the Little Mountain site and answers on the deal behind it, which he calls “an embarrassment to the government and an insult to the people of Vancouver.”
Asked if it’s feasible for a government to “take back” land that’s already been sold to a private owner, Chudnovsky said it’s up to the government to figure out how.
But he cited the City of Vancouver’s decision to expropriate the notoriously squalid Regent and Balmoral Hotels from their owners, the Sahota family. Although Chudnovsky acknowledged the situation with those rundown rooming houses is different from the one at Little Mountain, he said it’s unlikely city staff would have tried to expropriate the Sahotas’ buildings — or that council would have supported it — if not for years of pressure from members of the public.
The task of the community, Chudnovsky said, “is to push government to have the political will to make a move.”
Holborn, the developer that bought Little Mountain, struck a deal in 2008 with the province to buy the six-hectare site, develop several buildings of market condos on the property plus non-market homes to replace 224 social housing units that would be torn down.
But the development has been repeatedly delayed. In July, the City of Vancouver said it expected Holborn to submit development applications for three more buildings by the end of the summer, but as of Thursday, none had been received.
And, as a Postmedia investigation revealed, as of last year the company still owed the province most of the reported $334 million purchase price, because of the complicated but still largely secret deal.
Holborn did not return a request for comment on Thursday.
Postmedia asked the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on Thursday whether it was possible for the government to “take back” Little Mountain.
Instead of answering, it sent an emailed statement from Housing Minister Selina Robinson: “When the B.C. Liberals sold the Little Mountain site they gave away control over this property to a private owner. Public land should benefit the people of our province, and it’s disgraceful that the old government threw away the potential this site represented.”
“Instead of a vacant lot, we could today be building hundreds of affordable homes,” Robinson wrote. “Our government is making different choices and responding to the housing crisis by investing in the affordable housing that people need.”
Rally organizers are asking people to join them at the corner of 33rd Avenue and Ontario Street at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 30. They have also launched an online petition at www.takebackthemountain.com.