Port Coquitlam housing advocates and groups working with women are backing a proposal to build an apartment and townhouse complex that would provide subsidized rental units for low-income single moms and other women struggling with homelessness and poverty.
The proposal for the project at the corner of Flint Street and Prairie Avenue on land owned by Metro Vancouver Housing comes as the latest 2015 BC Rental Housing Index showed Coquitlam single moms are among the most financially challenged demographic needing housing.
Last week, Metro Vancouver Housing's board agreed to seek further information on the project for a report to be presented in April, giving the ad-hoc group formed by Coun. Glenn Pollock hope that the project could one day become a reality.
"We hope the recommendation will be that we get the property for a dollar a year," said Pollock, who said the need for affordable housing for Tri-City women is great. "The wait for women is two or thee years for BC housing."
Among the members of the committee are representatives from Soroptimist International of the Tri-Cities, which provides support to women through various projects, as well as the Tri-Cities Homelessness and Housing Task Group
If approved, the proposal would see the construction of an 84-unit complex, with 72 apartments ranging from studio to four-bedroom, and townhome blocks consisting of eight three-bedroom units, three four-bedroom units and one five-bedroom group home.
About two thirds of the suites would be non-market housing, which means the rents would be less than those typically charged in market housing.
As well, there are preliminary plans for a health centre and a 55- to 60-space daycare.
Pollock said the group has partnered with the Atira Women's Resource Society, which has developed a number of properties for women, TL Housing Solutions Ltd., whose president Craig Lochhead has also built affordable housing projects, and Atcorr Development Consulting.
Atira CEO Janice Abbott said it's good news the proposal is being considered.
"As indicated in the 2015 BC Rental Housing Index, single mothers in the Tri-Cities area struggle harder, when it comes to housing, than single mothers anywhere in Greater Vancouver. In fact, about half of single mom renters spend 50% or more of their income on housing," Abbott said in an email to The Tri-City News.
If approved, the project — consisting of three blocks of two three-storey townhouses with a five-storey mixed-use apartment building fronting Prairie and Flint on land already zoned for townhouse residential — would need to secure funding from BC Housing. Parking would be located in an underground parking garage to provide more space for yards and a landscaped courtyard.
