City of North Vancouver council has named several non-profits it will consider as operators of roughly $10-million worth of affordable housing and childcare space in the yet-to-be-built Onni condo towers at Lonsdale Avenue and 13th Street.
Council voted Oct. 21 to invite S.U.C.C.E.S.S, Hollyburn Family Services, the YWCA of Metro Vancouver and the My Own Space Housing Society to submit proposals to lease or own the roughly 12 units the city negotiated
The staff report and content of the council debate on the matter, however, were kept behind closed doors in an incamera committee session. The city allowed Onni another 82,000 square feet of developable space in exchange 6,100 square feet of childcare space and 10,000 square feet of affordable housing when the project was approved in January.
Couns. Craig Keating and Linda Buchanan and Mayor Darrell Mussatto voted against the motion to request proposals, however. The last time it was up for debate in June, Keating argued the affordable housing should go to My Own Space, a North Shore-based nonprofit that lobbied council heavily to approve the Onni project in hopes the units could go to adults with disabilities. Keating argued that council had a history of selecting non-profits to use city-owned spaces without open competitions.
Lonsdale Creek Daycare Society and North Shore Neighbourhood House have also been invited to respond to a similar request for proposal for the childcare space in the development.
