A housing project in Vancouver’s River District is creating homes for indigenous residents – and will dedicate half of its planned 337 units to First Nations dwellers.
The homes will be managed by the M’akola Housing Society. Based in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia (BC), the organisation claims to be the biggest provider of affordable housing for indigenous people in the province.
M’akola is working with the Community Land Trust (CLT), a social-purpose property developer and steward created by the Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia.
The other half of the scheme’s units will be run as co-op housing. The plan involves one 26-storey tower and a six-floor building.
The development site is at 3338 Sawmill Crescent and is one of seven City of Vancouver-owned properties for which CLT was selected in 2018 as developer of affordable housing.
In addition to 3338 Sawmill, the sites include a second River District location at 3183 and 3245 Pierview Crescent. For both sites, the city had specified that at least 30% of the dwelling units should be rented out at below-market rates, based on 2017 housing-income limits published by social housing development agency BC Housing.
