The City of Vancouver has backed down in its legal fight over a controversial proposed supportive housing building in Kitsilano.
City council approved the rezoning application for the 13-storey project at Arbutus Street and West 8th Avenue in 2022.
Shortly after, the Kitsilano Coalition launched a court challenge seeking a judicial review of the council’s decision. The City of Vancouver has consented to the judicial review, meaning the rezoning has been quashed.
The Kitsilano Coalition also says it has been in discussions with the city and the mayor’s office who have shown interest in creating a different type of project.
“It is what it is,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said.
“I think the bigger question is we have to rethink these projects and go back to the drawing board. We have to make sure that the projects that are presented work in the context of setting everyone up for success.”
In January, B.C. Premier David Eby said he was frustrated about the project after the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in December that a law passed by the provincial government to stave off opposition to the project was unconstitutional.
The B.C. government adopted the law in 2023 at the City of Vancouver’s request to push through the development, which would have been 12 storeys tall on Arbutus Street with units open to low-income residents and those needing support services.
“This is frustrating,” Eby said in January.
“We’re trying to build housing for people. Everybody in British Columbia knows there’s a housing crisis. They see the people in the streets. They see that providing affordable housing with supports for people as part of the response to this.”