Coquitlam council chips in on $77-million affordable co-op housing project; future project funding murky

The Hoy Creek Housing Co-op on Glen Drive in Coquitlam is prepared to add a six-storey, 146-unit building for renters with low to moderate incomes.

“it’s been a long time down this path,” noted Mayor Richard Stewart on Monday.

On Monday evening, Coquitlam council signed off on a $3.65 million contribution to the project earmarked for the 2900-block of Glen Drive. However, finding that funding for future affordable housing initiatives may be a challenge.

The building is the second part of a three-phase project intended to replace the dilapidated 157-unit co-op development built on the site in the early 1980s.

“The co-op housing wasn’t designed or built the way one would hope because it didn’t last the length of time it was supposed to,” Stewart said.

The Glen Drive site was formerly occupied by a three-storey co-op building which had fallen into “extreme disrepair,” according to correspondence from the Community Land Trust Group of Societies. The former residents are set to move into a new co-op building on the site which opened in 2024.

The project is set to cost $77 million, with the largest contribution coming from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Rents are expected to range from $731 to $2,850, with the majority of units – 104 – intended for renters earning between $29,240 and $76,000. The project also includes 42 units targeted to residents with an income ranging from $98,000 to $114,000.

When complete, the three-building project is set to consist of approximately 396 non-market co-op units. The project is set to be managed by the Community Land Trust Foundation of B.C. alongside the Hoy Creek Housing Cooperative.

The city’s contribution was only possible with density bonus cash the city levied on other developments, noted Coun. Dennis Marsden.

Marsden reiterated a call to have the province to maintain the density bonus framework.

“Otherwise that pot of money will draw out,” he said. “I hope the province can see its way to clear to give us the latitude necessary to continue to participate and support the not-for-profit housing [projects] that are coming to us.”

On Tuesday the City of Coquitlam announced plans to implement the provincially mandated Amenity Cost Charges program, replacing the previous density bonus and community amenity contribution programs.

The prior programs generally relied on developers paying more for extra height or density. The city would use that money to pay for assets ranging from rec centres and parks to below-market rental units and childcare facilities.

Stewart previously warned that phasing out bonus density will mean that developers will benefit at the cost of cities.

“The province essentially has given developers an enormous windfall profit on the land that they own. Because they bought it knowing they would have to build something else for the city, in order to get the additional density,” Stewart said in 2024. “Now they just got the additional density for free, and the city is left without the ability to incentivize . . . below market rental housing and childcare spaces.”

Coquitlam Coun. Brent Asmundson has also been critical of the change.

“I also think that this government has been duped by UDI [Urban Development Institute], development industries and other, to thinking that if we reduce fees and charges by local government, that housing prices will go down.”

The new program will “recover approximately $356 million over the next 10 years to fund growth-related amenities,” according to a release from the city.

While similar to the previous approach, the new program doesn’t offer: “the same flexibility as the city’s former system,” the city stated.

Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of housing, previously said the purpose of these changes was to “create more certainty for everyone.”

“It ensures that money that is being collected for amenities must go to amenities,” he said.

ACCs were designed to make the costs to developers transparent. With CACs, some municipalities negotiated amenity payments with each developer, rather than having a set rate.