All of the remaining social housing buildings promised more than two decades ago for the Little Mountain development site in Vancouver are now under construction, with new residents expected to move in sometime in 2026.
Holborn Properties Ltd. bought the 15-acre property near Queen Elizabeth Park in 2008 from the provincial government for $334 million and promised to replace more than 200 social housing units the company demolished in the early stages of ownership.
So far, only a 53-unit social housing building for seniors has opened.
The delays in replacing the housing have made the company a target of criticism for years from housing advocates and civic and provincial politicians, including Premier David Eby when he was attorney general in 2021.
But in a Jan. 6 visit to the development site, BIV learned a 62-unit building facing Main Street is expected to be completed by March, while three other buildings are scheduled to open in the spring and summer of 2026.
“All five buildings for social housing — one complete and four in various stages of construction — will be finished before any market housing,” said Joo Kim Tiah, Holborn’s CEO, in an email this week.
The total number of units spread across the five buildings is 282, with the 48-unit city-owned building to include a neighbourhood house, a child-care centre, an outdoor plaza and park.
'Enough is enough'
While progress is being made on the buildings, Holborn failed to meet a deadline agreed to in a memorandum of understanding signed in September 2021 with BC Housing and the City of Vancouver.
Holborn had committed to using “its best efforts to ensure that all non-market housing and related community amenities in the Little Mountain development are expeditiously completed and ready for occupancy pursuant to the foregoing requirements by no later than Dec. 31, 2024.”
The agreement was aimed at accelerating construction.
Eby, who was also the minister responsible for housing at the time, was pointed in his criticism after signing what he described as a “good faith” agreement.
“Enough is enough with the Little Mountain tragedy that was orchestrated by the previous government that resulted in a low-income community bulldozed, an interest-free loan of hundreds of millions of dollars and a massive empty lot growing weeds in the middle of a housing crisis,” he said.
“The fact that Holborn didn't have to enter into this [agreement] — and the fact that if they don't meet these commitments it will simply result in more bad press — indicates to me that there is reason for optimism that we can get this done.”
Failing to meet the deadline did not result in any penalties from the city or province against Holborn, whose CEO acknowledged in an interview in November 2023 that the social housing component was behind schedule and wouldn’t be completed before the end of 2024.
'A critical step'
The interview with Tiah was conducted after Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC Vancouver colleagues agreed to amend a housing agreement with Holborn that removed “occupancy permit holds” for three of the 12 lots designated for market housing.
The holds — a standard practice in contracts — were in place so that Holborn would have to first build all the social housing before proceeding with the market units. That requirement was based on the property once being home to 224 units of 1954-era social housing that had deteriorated and was later demolished.
Holborn wanted the agreement amended because the company said it was unable to obtain financing for the first two phases of the market units without unlocking the holds on three lots.
At the time, Holborn told staff it wanted to launch pre-sales for an 87-unit market building by the end of the year and simultaneously submit development permit applications for three other buildings.
“The banks will not finance us when there's such strict occupancy holds on the delivery of social housing, and that's essentially why we are asking for this,” Tiah said in November 2023.
He explained in an email this week that council’s decision to remove the holds “was crucial, enabling us to secure financing for the third building — the city’s building — which per the agreement, must be completed before the final two social housing buildings can proceed.”
Added Tiah: “This was a critical step in moving construction forward.”
'The opposite was true'
Technically, Holborn could have focused on developing a market housing building in 2024 — after the city-owned building was underway — but decided to proceed with all the social buildings, which are paid for by a construction loan from BC Housing.
Holborn funded the city-owned building via its own commercial financing equity, according to information from the company.
ABC Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen said he was pleased to hear the remaining social housing buildings were under construction. Klassen said criticism of council’s move to remove the permit holds was unwarranted, when considering the result.
“There was this kind of immediate backlash that we were giving away something — that we were reneging on the development of non-market replacement social housing,” he said. “And the fact was, the opposite was true. What we're now seeing is all of these projects are under construction and on track to open next year.”
Klassen acknowledged the frustration of citizens, housing advocates and politicians from various levels of government over what former Vancouver MLA David Chudnovsky once dubbed “a sweetheart deal” for Holborn when it purchased the property in 2008.
“We can't rewrite history, and the delays happened,” Klassen said. “For some people, there's still a lot of disappointment and frustration that that happened. But right now, we've got to look forward to getting this new non-market housing built and occupied.”
13 market condos
The property was busy with construction activity Monday, with Holborn’s chief operating officer Yi-Khy Saw pointing out all the pipes and various materials scattered across the site for servicing the new buildings.
The majority of the site, however, is still an empty field.
Holborn has plans to build 13 market condos, but doesn’t anticipate completion on the entire development for 10-12 years, depending on the market and other factors that could affect the timeline.
“If the market is good, then maybe we can launch more than one a year,” Saw said.
More Than A Roof and SUCCESS are among the non-profits chosen as operators for some of the social housing buildings. Ten of the 282 units will go to the Musqueam Indian Band, according to a BC Housing document.
In recent years, BC Housing had a temporary 46-unit modular housing complex for homeless people built on the site but removed it after a few years and placed it in storage. All tenants were moved into other housing in Metro Vancouver.
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