Vancouver developer apologizes for housing scandal at Little Mountain
It’s arguably the biggest social housing scandal in Vancouver’s history and today the developer responsible for the Little Mountain project apologized for the multi-year delay that’s left a massive plot of land vacant during a housing crisis.
The 15-acre parcel on the east flank of Queen Elizabeth Park has been mostly vacant since the provincial government signed a controversial deal with Holborn Group in 2008, selling the property for just $334 million with an interest-free loan, in exchange for the redevelopment of 224 dilapidated social housing units.
Only 53 have been built.
Holborn CEO Joo Kim Tiah made a rare public appearance with Vancouver’s mayor and other dignitaries for a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of 48 units of social housing, where CTV News asked him if he felt he owed an apology or explanation as to why it was taking so long to build.
“Obviously yeah, I feel bad about the whole situation,” he replied. “If it makes it better yeah, I would apologize for how it's taken so long. It was never the intention.”
He went on to say there was a “very long back story” as to why it’s taken so long, and had earlier thanked the current council for a concession to change the priorities for occupancy at the site, which allowed him to get the financing to break ground. Some 1,600 units of market housing are also planned for the land though they have not gone on pre-sale yet.
Tiah is best-known in Vancouver as the entrepreneur behind the Trump Hotel; it has since rebranded to Paradox.
Province pressured developer to make progress
Mayor Ken Sim began the ground breaking by acknowledging “this development has a long and checkered past,” before going on to say “we can litigate the past and come up with reasons why we can't do it and get really positional, or we can say, 'look, there are a lot of people who need housing here.’”
When CTV News asked why he was confident Holborn would deliver on the 48 units in a timely manner when they had a track record of broken promises, Sim took credit for the progress, since “there were no shovels in the ground up until we came into office.”
But Sim’s predecessor, Kennedy Stewart, is the city’s signatory on a 2021 Memorandum of Understanding between the developer and the province to push Holborn to finally begin construction.
And on Thursday, the current housing minister confirmed That David Eby – B.C.’s housing-minister-turned premier – has been involved behind the scenes.
“The premier last year tried to sit down with Holborn, sit down with the city to encourage them to build this housing faster,” Ravi Kahlon told CTV News. “Everything about Little Mountain has been a disaster and the (BC Liberal) government at the time should never have sold given private lands to a developer with no real conditions about timelines, no conditions about paying interest back.”
In 2020, Holborn had only paid $40 million of the $335 million purchase price.
A cautionary tale for governments
As the province makes a suite of policy changes and funding commitments to make it easier and, in some cases, more affordable, to build housing during a crisis, the Little Mountain will serve as a cautionary tale.
Hundreds of low-income families were forced out of the run-down buildings with the promise that they’d be back in new units within a couple years, which only happened for a handful of people in the 53 units in the one building that’s been erected at the site.
“What's the hold up? What happened? I guess that's politics,” said Michelle Wright, a former resident of the community who was ousted with her family at the age of 12 and hopes to return with her own young children. “It was heartbreaking to watch 700 families get torn apart and displaced and a lot of pain in that.”
Coun. Christine Boyle, who’s not a member of the majority ABC party on council, acknowledged there will be public skepticism that Holborn will deliver on its late 2026 move-in date for the new units.
“The deal that Rich Coleman and the former BC Liberals gave to Holborn on this site was a travesty from the beginning,” she said. “It's not enough to make grand promises, people can't live in promises.”
David Chudnovsky, the former MLA for the area who’s been fighting to expose details of the deal and advocating for impacted Vancouverites for years finds some solace in the fact the project was so thoroughly botched, it’s unlikely to be repeated.
“This kind of deal will never happen again, that's for sure,” said the retiree. “This could've been a model social housing community, a model sustainable community, and 17 years later it's mostly still a vacant lot.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
BREAKING Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife’s edge.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.
Putin begins his fifth term as president, more in control of Russia than ever
Vladimir Putin began his fifth term Tuesday as Russian leader at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, setting out on another six years in office after destroying his political opponents, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and concentrating all power in his hands.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.