It could be much cheaper to buy Vancouver homeless people their own condo than provide social housing, based on the cost of recent “supportive housing” projects in the city, all being built to LEED Gold standards.
The City of Vancouver, with help from the province, is building 14 new social housing buildings in the city under a $300 million program, with the most recent opening this week at 1249 Howe Street, a 12-storey highrise.
Yet the cost of creating these latest 110 units for “people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness” pencils out to an average of more than $363,600 per apartment, when $891,000 in annual subsidies for 10 years are factored in.
As a comparison, the typical price for a new condominium studio suite in Vancouver is less than $300,000.
The Howe Street project, however, includes round-the-clock support staff, and onsite workshops and life skills programmed to residents. Residents also have access to numerous shared amenities space, a library and media room, two outdoor gardens and a community kitchen.
For all this, tenants pay an average of $375 per month in rent, which is provided by the province.
Earlier this year, the ninth such social housing project was completed in East Vancouver. This project, at 2465 Fraser Street, provides 95 studio suites and four two-bedroom apartments. When 10 years of an ongoing $1.4 million annual subsidy is factored in, the price per suite works out to $423,000 for each of the units, which are aimed at “youth at risk”.
But, three blocks away at Main Street and East Broadway, the new Independent condominium development by Rize Alliance is pre-selling new condominiums starting from $274,500.
The average price for a resale condominium in East Vancouver is $330,000, reports the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and a search of the Real Estate Weekly database this week turned up more than 100 East Vancouver resale condominiums priced at $300,000 or less, including some two and three bedroom units.
Taking 2465 Fraser Street as an example, the $41.7 million in public subsidies includes an $18 million construction loan backed by the B.C. government; $200,000 in provincial government pre-development costs; and $6 million from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. There is also a federal and provincial annual subsidy of $1.4 million, or $14 million over the next 10 years. The City of Vancouver donated $3.1 million worth of land and waived $488,925 in development fees for the project.
Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Foundation, said even he is surprised at the cost gap between social housing units and private-sector condo construction.
“There is a staggering difference in cash,” Bateman said. “Taxpayers may question whether they are getting value.”
