Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / A supportive housing building under construction on Trethewey Avenue. This building has been delayed once again. It will offer 91 units of housing.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Supportive housing in Chilliwack

New supportive housing building in Chilliwack delayed once again; councillor calls it an ’embarrassment’ for B.C. govt.

Sep 5, 2024 | 10:13 AM

CHILLIWACK — A new supportive housing building in Chilliwack that was supposed to open on Trethewey Avenue in fall 2023 and later, spring 2024, has been delayed once again, prompting condemnation from a frustrated city councillor.

According to comments from Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove and Karen Stanton, director of public safety and social development for the City of Chilliwack, a new 91-unit housing building that will offer complex care services and other wraparound services for clients has been delayed to spring 2025.

“We have been advised fairly recently in the last month that they are working towards a March [2025] completion date,” Stanton told councillors in response to a question during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Mayor Popove said the holdup can be attributed to litigation between the two contractors that went bankrupt during construction.

“When they fully get through litigation, maybe they can do a 24/7 on that and get that built,” Popove said, adding that a letter has been sent to Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon about the matter. “I have heard nothing back from him. I don’t expect to hear either.”

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Councillor Bud Mercer said the delays constitute “an embarrassment” for the provincial government.

“It’s been mishandled since day one,” Mercer said. “It’s becoming an eyesore, and it’s going to continue to cost the taxpayers even more money as it lags. The province sits in a cesspool of bureaucracy.”

Image: City of Chilliwack / Councillor Bud Mercer.

Back in September 2023, Tim Chamberlin, senior communications advisor for BC Housing, said the new supportive housing building and shelter at 45857 Trethewey Avenue was projected to open in spring 2024.

It previously had an opening date of fall 2023.

“Construction was initially expected to complete this past summer but it experienced a delay due to supply chain issues, including a delay of critical electrical components,” Chamberlin wrote in his September 2023 email to Fraser Valley Today.

The project will provide 49 supportive homes and 42 permanent shelter spaces for people at risk of, and experiencing, homelessness, Chamberlin said in his email. The 49 supportive homes include up to 22 complex care housing spaces for vulnerable people who need a level of support that goes beyond the current housing model, Chamberlin wrote.

Phoenix Society will operate the building and provide housing residents and shelter guests with daily meals, life and employment skills training, health and wellness support services, and culturally appropriate supports for Indigenous residents. The complex care housing services will be delivered by Fraser Health in partnership with the Phoenix Society.

The building will have a common outdoor amenity area featuring a landscaped area, a sweat lodge, and rooftop deck.

Jamie Leggatt, director of communications for the City of Chilliwack, indicated in February 2023 that BC Housing had advised city staff at that time that the building would be completed and open in the fall 2023.

Chilliwack City Council approved the issuance of a development permit for four properties on Rowat Avenue and one property on Trethewey Avenue, about one block west of Shandhar Hut, at its meeting on August 16, 2022, for the purpose of building this supportive housing development.