On May 27, 2025, it became clear that folks who require supportive housing had suffered a very major defeat. The City of Vancouver was abandoning a proposal by BC Housing to build a 13-story tower next to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station on Broadway. The project would have provided 129 studio units of low-barrier supportive housing.
The City’s decision ended a years-long battle to establish that type of supportive housing in that location.
The proposed development was contentious from the start, in part because the chosen location was close to schools, daycares, a toddler/family park, and women’s supportive recovery housing. Local opposition began to coalesce under the Kitsilano Coalition, which initially cited concerns about the lack of public engagement, the lack of transparency by the City and BC Housing, and the proposal’s implications for community health and safety.
The Coalition was not alone in opposition. SFU Professor Julian Somers, a clinical psychologist specializing in substance use and mental health, was quoted in a Coalition media release as saying, “Congregating people with mental health and addiction issues in a single building does not work.” Dr. Somers’ opposition was echoed by retired criminal judge Thomas Gove, founding justice in Vancouver’s Community Court, who stated that the project was the “wrong model, the wrong size, and in the wrong place.”
On July 26, 2022, City Council went ahead and approved the project by an 8-3 vote after a multi-day public hearing. However, the development saga was far from over.
On October 12, 2022, the Kitsilano Coalition filed a Petition in the BC Supreme Court, seeking a judicial review of Council’s decision and detailing failures by the City to ensure transparency, fairness, and disclosure of key information in its decision-making process related to the rezoning application. The City filed a response the following December 12th.
Before the case had a chance to be heard by the Court, the provincial government decided to get involved by introducing legislative amendments (Bill 26) through the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act to enable the project to proceed. This overrode the Coalition’s petition to the BC Supreme Court. At the time, Housing Minister Ravi Khalon was quoted as saying, “We are taking legislative action to avoid further delays for the creation of much-needed homes in this Province,”
However well-intentioned the Minister might have been in trying to move forward with the promised housing, passing a bill which overrode the Coalition’s application to the Court had the effect of adding another complex issue to an already complicated situation.
On May 23, 2023, the Kitsilano Coalition challenged Bill 26 through the BC Supreme Court, arguing that the Bill violated the Canadian Constitution as it “unlawfully deprives Canadians of their constitutionally-protected access to the courts.” On November 17, 2023, the BC Supreme Court ruled against this legal challenge.
The Coalition appealed that ruling and on December 23, 2024, a three-judge panel from the BC Court of Appeal ruled unanimously in favour of the appeal, stating that Bill 26 was indeed unconstitutional.
That decision then reactivated the original request for a judicial review of the City’s zoning approval process for the proposed housing site. On May 26, 2025, the Coalition sent out an update, reporting that the City had consented to the requested judicial review, which meant that:
- The rezoning application for 7th/8th & Arbutus had been quashed.
- The associated by-law, housing agreement, and development permit were all void and of no effect.
- The city-owned site at 7th/8th & Arbutus was no longer rezoned or approved for development.
The Coalition further reported that they were now working with the City to try to develop a community-supported housing model for the site.
While it is certainly valuable to have a legal ruling that citizens have a constitutional right to access the courts, including the right to challenge government actions, the actual need for more supportive housing got lost in a very extended legal process.
Literally thousands of our fellow human beings are living on the streets. Exposed to the elements and with nowhere to call home, they suffer day in and day out. Others, less visible, are inadequately housed, are ‘couch-surfing’ with friends or acquaintances, or are stuck in crowded shelters.
For some, the solution is simple – housing. That’s it. For others, the solution is more challenging – they require supportive housing. Too many individuals are not able to manage without support. But not all support needs are the same.
Some seniors, families, youth, and those with health issues need help in managing day-to-day activities. Most of them can live comfortable lives in multi-unit buildings. The Arbutus site in question could be a suitable location for that type of supportive housing.
Individuals, such as those with complex mental health issues or drug addiction – or both at the same time — often need more complex services and as both Professor Somers and retired judge Thomas Gove have explained, housing people in large multi-story, low-barrier buildings dedicated entirely to servicing individuals with complex needs generally produces poor outcomes.
Vancouver’s 2023 homeless count reported a total of 2,420 homeless people in this city alone – 605 unsheltered and 1,815 who have some sort of shelter. The City and the Province can and must do better to house everyone appropriately.
If ever there were a need for more supportive housing, it is now.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (June 5, 2025): 430.78ppm
One year ago (June 4, 2024): 427.48ppm
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I thought it was just common sense that the needs of disabled people, the elderly, drug addicted people and the mentally ill were very different. If the province of BC, BC HOUSING and the City of Vancouver don’t know this, we are doomed. They are just waiting for us to hurry up and die. Telling someone who just suffered from a stroke, heart attack, a brain bleed or many other health issues to go and get a place on $1500/month is morally and ethically unforgivable.
I am a social worker who worked years on the DTES for 4 years before going into harm reduction and affordable housing development in the early 1990s. I am currently Chair of the Foundation at Lookout. So you know where I stand.
This is another great post from Tim – who nails the complexities nicely.
Small, mixed, livable projects, like my old housing co-op on East Pender, are of course always preferable to big projects like this one. BUT… smaller projects are more costly at a time when taxpayers want value for money AND the need is huge in terms of housing – thanks Jean Chretien and Paul Martin for cutting the National Affordable Housing Program – so maybe this project was the best idea and maybe the Minister had the right idea.
I agree local democracy is important, however. So no easy solution.