BC Housing is in the preliminary stages of developing new non-market housing for women and children, which will include a child-care facility.
The housing is proposed to go up on an undeveloped city-owned lot at 4803 Canada Way and is expected to include a total of 60 units. The project has conditional funding from BC Housing’s women’s transitional housing fund and has the YWCA as a potential operator of the housing and child care.
The housing is also being funded through a “substantial philanthropic donation” from Cindy Beedie, executive director of the Beedie Foundation, which is connected to Burnaby-based real estate development company Beedie.
Right next door, also on city-owned land, the city recently approved a zoning amendment to allow further non-market housing and to allow the replacement of another child-care facility. That facility is operated by the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, which works with children with developmental disabilities.
The project is still in the early development stages. City council recently gave staff the go-ahead to work with BC Housing to come up with a development plan for the site, which would then be subject to rezoning.
BC Housing did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
