South Vanouver will be the site of two new temporary modular-housing buildings.
The City of Vancouver, B.C. government, and the Vancouver Housing Agency announced that they will include 78 homes on the Pearson-Dogwood site on West 57th Avenue west of Cambie Street.
It's part of a plan to provide 600 units of this temporary housing in Vancouver, which was approved earlier this month.
"These 78 temporary modular homes at Pearson-Dogwood will help get our most vulnerable residents off the streets and into safe housing as quickly as possible," Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a news release. "Leveraging vacant city and private land for temporary modular housing will help people immediately, in neighbourhoods throughout the city. We have 1,000 new units of social housing opening across Vancouver from now until the end of next year, and this temporary modular housing helps fill an important gap."
The first building will have 39 units and is expected to be open in January 2018.
The structure will be built by Horizon North and will be operated by the nonprofit Community Builders. Each unit will be around 250 square feet with a bathroom and kitchen. There will also be laundry facilities available to the tenants.
"We are pleased to have been selected to manage the new temporary modular housing site which will provide important supportive housing to Vancouver's homeless population," Community Builders executive director Julie Roberts said in the news release. "Community Builders will support the tenant population with case management plans, coordinated health services, and community support".
The Onni Group is developing 2,700 units on the Pearson-Dogwood site. This will include 2,046 market-rate condos. It's part of a four-phase plan to replace aging health-care facilities with a new complex that would be operated by Vancouver Coastal Health.
In the news release Robertson expressed gratitude to the Onni Group for providing the land for the 78 temporary modular homes.