b.c. housing minister says tenants can't leave granville strip until new housing is built
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granville street in vancouver, bc. june 12, 2025.
arlen redekop
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b.c. housing minister ravi kahlon said friday he supports vancouver mayor ken sim’s goal of relocating nearly 300 social housing tenants off the granville entertainment strip, but stressed that no one is to be moved until new units are completed.
kahlon also questioned a declaration by sim that replacement buildings will be capped at 40 units each in vancouver, saying the “basic math” just doesn’t make sense.
on thursday, sim revealed that three old hotels on granville will no longer be used for social housing, after fires and other incidents caused damage and disorder for local businesses. he promised new social housing would be constructed on city land.
kahlon said the timing of when the residents will be moved will depend on how quickly the city can act.
“it’s as fast as the city of vancouver can move to identify land that’s workable and do the zoning that’s required for us to build,” kahlon said. “(the tenants) will have to remain there because we can’t just displace people, and there’s not as many options as we need in the community.”
sim told reporters thursday that the new housing replacing the granville units will be capped at 40 rooms each.
but kahlon said such a cap will require more buildings and more land to replace the 270 rooms being lost.
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“i’m not entirely sure where the mayor came up with that number, but that certainly isn’t part of any agreement we’ve had,” kahlon said. “the basic math doesn’t work if you’ve got over 200 units that you’re looking to move out and you’re offered three sites at 40 units, there’s a big gap.”
the ministry is open to discussing not having too many people with “unique challenges” in one site, but kahlon added “there’s no magic number” of tenants that make a building safer.
this initiative involves three provincially owned buildings: the luugat, a former howard johnson hotel, with 110 rooms; st. helen’s hotel with 82 rooms; and the granville villa with 77 rooms, which are all on granville between nelson and davie streets.
on friday, a statement from sim defended the 40-unit cap for new buildings, saying “the current model of large-scale supportive housing isn’t working.” he said buildings with lower numbers would “allow for better care, stronger management and real integration with the community.”
sim said no city sites have yet been finalized for the projects. he did not answer questions about timing of construction or confirm that the residents would remain in place until the new buildings are complete.
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creating more housing in new buildings with support services is the right long-term goal, but it’s not clear yet where and how quickly those rooms can be replaced, said keir macdonald, ceo of coast mental health.
“that’s a lot of housing in a very toughest of climates to replace,” said macdonald, whose non-profit organization runs several supported housing sites.
“we all know these projects take years — time to secure land, funding, approvals, design, an operator, and then build. so the real question is: what happens in the meantime?”
entrepreneurs along granville say the social housing has led to damage to their businesses and to street disorder that scares away customers. if these tenants are not getting the proper help they need now in these old buildings, what is the short-term solution until the replacement units are finished, macdonald asked.
“is it tenable to continue like this for another three years? and if not, what interim solutions are we prepared to invest in now?”
capping new buildings to 40 units will not only cost more money for construction, but will add expense to non-profits who will need to hire more staff to work in the additional locations. “so it is a funding question for the province,” he said.
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however, macdonald added, in an ideal world with sufficient government funding, there would be a wide range of supported housing options, from small to large buildings, to address different needs.
he said well-designed social housing works well, and he hopes the province and city consult with housing providers to plan these new buildings so the tenants are better served and there is less disruption to the community.
“i believe this could be a turning point if we get it right,” macdonald added.
kahlon said the city requested to move social housing off granville as part of its plan to revitalize the entertainment strip.
the ministry has not had similar requests from other city halls. but, he added, vancouver is in a unique position because it declared a moratorium on constructing any more social housing until other cities build more.
other cities, such as kelowna, campbell river and duncan, have new purpose-built social housing with the types of services sim has promised will be in vancouver’s new buildings, including round-the-clock staffing, meals and support for mental health, kahlon said.
in addition to the 300 units the city and province plan to replace, there are another 300 social housing units in the entertainment district that are not part of this deal.
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