A nondescript industrial location in North Vancouver and a squat, one-storey building in Port Moody across from train tracks, are among Canada Post properties in B.C. on which the federal government is looking to develop housing as part of its latest budget.
The two B.C. sites, along with a half dozen other potential properties scattered between the mainland and Vancouver Island, are among 1,700 Canada Post properties in as many communities across Canada that featured in Tuesday’s budget as ripe for housing development.
“Many of these sites often house one-storey Canada Post buildings, which could be leveraged to build new homes across the country, while maintaining Canada Post services,” said the budget, which focused on how to build nearly four million new homes in Canada by 2031.
Ottawa said that six Canada Post properties across the country are already being assessed for potential development, whereby apartment towers or other types of buildings could be built and paired with ground-level post operations.
Among those six are two in B.C., including a building at 120 Charles Street in North Vancouver and another at 45 Mary Street in Port Moody.
It could take some work however, as the site in North Vancouver is tucked away in an industrial area with little housing nearby, meaning the property would need to be rezoned for residential. It’s currently zoned for industrial use under the district’s official community plan.
Overall, though, District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little said his community is not adverse to the idea of trying to create housing in underutilized spaces.
“We’re open to it and we’ll see what fits in our community when the federal government brings properties to the table,” he said. “Bringing land into the mix, it does help us produce a more affordable product for the community.”
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The federal budget’s biggest line items relate to affordable housing, which could make a big difference for B.C. residents.
The Port Moody location is more promising with services and transportation in the neighbourhood, which is already zoned to allow housing between three and eight storeys.
Mayor Meghan Lahti said Port Moody has approached the federal government in the past about partnering on housing at the site.
“So I’m happy to see that they are now doing a sort of inventory of those parcels, looking at ways they can serve the communities in which they exist,” she said.
Port Moody is scrambling to add housing to its city, which is one of 10 municipalities the B.C. government ordered to collectively build more than 60,000 new units of housing over the next five years — or face consequences.
Craig Jones, associate director of the Housing Research Collaborative and the Housing Assessment Resource Tools project at the University of British Columbia (UBC), says housing initiatives like the one proposed for Canada Post properties have been encouraged by advocates for many years.
“When we map … the government-owned land is either sitting vacant or has a one to two-storey structure on it, there’s a huge amount of potential there for new housing to get built,” said Jones.
Penny Gurstein, professor emeritus with the School and Community and Regional Planning at UBC, said the federal government is listening to housing advocates and experts over solutions.
“Our greatest need is housing and so I think this is a really, really good step that the government is making,” she said.
The budget document said a priority will be made for Canada Post to lease or divest, “properties and lands with high potential for housing.”
Budget 2024 says the government will launch a Canada Post Housing Program to support affordable housing providers to build on Canada Post properties later this year.
Meanwhile, it also mentioned six other potential Canada Post sites for the program in B.C., which are in Gibsons, Langley and Sechelt on the Mainland and Chemainus, Qualicum Beach and Saanichton on Vancouver Island.