VANCOUVER -- Dozens of angry Vancouver residents took over the corner of 33rd Avenue and Ontario Street Saturday in a rally demanding action on a vacant piece of land.
For more than a decade frustrations have been building in that neighbourhood over the expensive empty lot, which some are calling an eyesore.
“All you have to do is look at this property to say ‘what's wrong’,” said Linda Schuto, who lives nearby.
“There is a problem here. Why is this empty land sitting here when we have a housing crisis in our city?"
For more than 50 years the Little Mountain social housing site was where low-income families raised their kids. But in 2008, a developer bought the land from the province and knocked down its 224 affordable units.
Holborn Group has a plan to build more than 1,800 units -- of which 234 would be social housing. The developer even offered displaced residents a chance to move back, but over a decade later, residents are still waiting.
“None of that has happened. It is now 10 years later and this is still the biggest vacant lot in the city," said rally organizer David Chudnovsky.
“We think it's time for everybody involved to acknowledge this has been a failure."
Vancouver-Kingsway MP Don Davies attended the rally and said he plans to take residents' concerns to Ottawa.
“"If there is going to be a repurchase of this land, I think that federal funds would help make that happen, so that is a message I am going to take back to my peers," said Davies.
Holborn has yet to respond to an interview request.
