Gibsons Lions Club broke ground on the first phase of its 76-unit affordable housing project on Thursday
The first phase building, at 824 Kiwanis Way, will host 29 units, most of which will be filled by current Sunshine Coast residents.
Gibsons Mayor Silas White, Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons, and B.C.’s minister of housing, Ravi Kahlon, were on hand to grip the ceremonial shovels, as well as Jim Barnes, vice president of the Gibsons Lions Club.
The Lions club will manage these buildings on behalf of BC Housing, which has contributed $8.5 million to the project as part of the Building BC: Community Housing Fund.
No one displaced
Barnes clarified that no current residents will be displaced without a home.
“We have 42 people living here right now who will not have to leave – they will have to move, but they won't have to leave,” said Barnes.
Phase 1 will create housing for all current residents of the heritage apartments and an additional nine units, which will be prioritized to senior residents of the Sunshine Coast; however, due to the high demand for housing, the Lions Club has already received 73 applications.
In Phase 2, the Lions Club will replace the existing units in order to provide some modern updates such as an updated heating system, as well as new plumbing and wiring.
Once the first building is complete, the current residents will move into the new apartments, and the current village apartments will be torn down.
Finally, a new four-storey building that will host 47 apartment units will be built where the village apartments used to be.
Overall, the project is to contribute a net increase of 56 housing units for Gibsons.
B.C.-wide issue
This shortage of housing is by no means exclusive to the Sunshine Coast.
“We are facing a housing crisis everywhere in British Columbia across the country, in fact, across North America,” said Kahlon. “It's being felt differently in every community.”
“Here in particular it’s being felt by seniors,” he said. “The median age is 55 and over; we have people who are getting older and being pushed out of the housing market.”
According to Kahlon, the fact that this phased approach has ensured that no residents will be displaced is a true credit to everyone involved in the project.
“This is a model of how it should happen in every community. And in fact, it's actually the best practice that BC housing has put in place at all the sites that we redevelop,” said Kahlon.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons says all the hard work is worth it when he sees the appreciation from the community.
“Residents are excited about it,” he said. “They know that there'll be some disruption in the next little while, but they also know that their needs, the needs of their community are being met, and they're going to be beneficiaries of that.”
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
