Fairview Balfour Block redevelopment plan cuts affordable housing and child care centre

Vancouver city council will vote Tuesday on a revised redevelopment plan for Fairview's Balfour Block that cuts previously approved affordable housing and a child care centre, drawing pushback from long-term tenants who fear displacement.

For four years, residents of the apartment complex have been in limbo as Wesgroup Properties pursued redevelopment of the block between West 18th and West 19th avenues and Laurel Street. The site currently has 17 duplexes containing 34 rental homes, 19 of which remain occupied. The revised proposal differs significantly from Wesgroup's original redevelopment plan, approved by council in 2022 but never built.

Wesgrup told the city the 2022 project no longer works financially because of changing market conditions. The original plan included a six-storey rental building with 99 rental homes — including 25 below-market units — and a six-storey condo building with 51 homes, a ground-floor child care centre, 58 townhouse units, and a 6,100-square-foot park. The revised plan removes the 25 below-market rental homes and child care centre, replacing the condos and townhouses with 19 fee-simple lots that could be sold separately and developed with four-unit multiplexes.

City planning staff have recommended council approve the application, saying it would still replace the aging rental buildings with approximately 90 new rental homes, including 34 replacement units for eligible existing tenants, while creating a 4,000-square-foot public park and 19 privately owned lots that could contain additional housing. Wesgroup offered to pay moving costs for tenants who do not qualify under the city's tenant relocation and protection policy.

Some tenants are urging council to reject the revised application. Resident Sonnet Hodgson, 28, who has lived on the block for five years and does not qualify for relocation protection, said the four-year uncertainty has been stressful. "A lot of us can't afford current market rental prices if we are evicted — some of us are living on disability or working lower-income jobs," she said.