BURST
A revised redevelopment proposal for Fairview’s Balfour Block is heading to Vancouver city council Tuesday, with some tenants urging councillors to reject a plan they say would eliminate previously approved affordable housing and child care while displacing long-term renters.
For four years, residents of the apartment complex have been in limbo as Wesgroup Properties pursued redevelopment of the block between West 18th Avenue, West 19th Avenue and Laurel Street.
“It’s been very stressful to not be able to plan your life if you don’t know if you’re going to be here next year,” said resident Sonnet Hodgson, 28, who has lived on the block for five years and does not qualify for protection under the city’s tenant relocation and protection policy.
A report from city staff heading to council Tuesday recommends approving Wesgroup Properties’ revised rezoning application for the site.
The site currently has 17 duplexes containing 34 rental homes, 19 of which remain occupied.
The revised proposal differs significantly from Wesgroup’s original redevelopment plan, approved by council in 2022 but never built.
The Vancouver-based developer told the city the project approved in 2022 no longer works financially because of changing market conditions and has asked for a smaller project that it says would allow redevelopment to proceed.
“Should the current proposal be approved by council, previously secured public benefits such as the child care facility and below-market rental housing will be forgone,” the report states.
The 2022 plan included a six-storey rental building with 99 rental homes — including 25 below-market units — and a six-storey condo building with 51 homes, a ground-floor child care centre, 58 townhouse units and a 6,100-square-foot park.
The revised plan removes the 25 below-market rental homes and a child care centre, and replaces the condos and townhouses with 19 fee-simple lots that could be sold separately and developed with fourplexes.
The report acknowledges the plan no longer meets the Cambie corridor plan’s target that 25 per cent of new rental floor area be below-market housing.
Despite the changes, city planning staff have recommended that council approve the application, saying it would still replace the aging rental buildings with approximately 90 new rental homes, including 34 replacement units for eligible existing tenants, while creating a 4,000-square-foot public park and 19 privately owned lots that could contain additional housing.
The report says Wesgroup offered to pay the moving costs for tenants who do not qualify under the city’s tenant relocation and protection policy.
But some tenants, including Hodgson, are urging council to reject the revised application, arguing it would displace long-term renters while providing fewer benefits for the community.
Hodgson says low-income seniors and working families have lived on the block for years and face uncertainty since Wesgroup purchased the property in 2015 for $46.2 million from a group of private holding companies named Shaughnessy Laurel Investments Ltd.
“A lot of us can’t afford current market rental prices if we are evicted — some of us are living on disability or working lower-income jobs,” said Hodgson, an outreach worker.