Tina House
APTN National News
Vancouver is making headway on a new “tiny” housing project. In order to address the shortage of available rental properties the city recently created the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency.
It also gave over $250 million in land that would otherwise have been used for community gardens and parking lots.
In the last few weeks workers have been constructing a new 40 unit modular housing project in downtown Vancouver. It’s the first of its kind in North America.
The 250 square foot, self-contained living spaces are designed for single room occupancy.
Rent is $850 per month, including heat and electricity. However, there are rental subsidies and rental supplements available to offset the cost to low income applicants.
“The group that will be moving into these projects will be on income assistance, so this project is heavily subsidized but we can have other projects across the city that meet the needs of seniors, young workers, and other families,” said Mukhtar Latif CEO, Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency.
“So there will be a range of rents that meet those different needs.”
The modular homes are built inside a warehouse first and then each unit is brought to the location and then stacked on top of each other. The finishing touches are then applied on site.
Total cost for the houses is anywhere from $3 to $3 and a half million dollars and takes 6 months to complete.
The housing unit is built on a steel frame which allows it to be easily moved to a more permanent location if need be.
There are corporate partners and non-profit agencies involved with the creation of the project and if all goes well the City of Vancouver hopes to develop more modular housing.
The units are expected to be open in February, 2017.
