Photo: Nicholas Johansen
Two units have been put up for sale in the supporting McCurdy Place housing estate.
A supportive housing development that has faced some resistance in recent years opened its doors to some of Kelowna’s most vulnerable residents last month. Two units in the building have now been put up for sale.
Twenty-one months after initial city council approval, the supportive McCurdy Place housing development began accepting tenants in March. But last week two units went up for sale on the first floor of the one-bedroom building, one for $ 335,900 and the other for $ 349,500.
The development was funded by BC Housing, which was built by Culos Development and is now operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association in Kelowna. It offers 49 subsidized units for vulnerable adults and young people recovering from substance abuse or at risk of homelessness.
The province is providing CMHA with an annual operating grant of $ 1.4 million to carry out the development.
Culos Project Administrator Fred Marin said Provincial Rental Housing Corporation purchased 49 units under development in February, along with a single commercial unit.
He says the two remaining units in the building are still owned by Culos and the developer is now selling them privately.
Marin wouldn’t say if BC Housing’s plan was always not to buy the entire building, but the listing for the two units says the condos “were designed to the highest BC Housing standards.”
As early as 2019, the province announced that the Knights of Columbus, who previously owned the property, would receive two of the residential units in the new building. It is not clear if these are the two units that are now being put up for sale by the developer.
Castanet expects to receive a response from BC Housing on the matter later in the day.
There is no mention in the property listings that the majority of the building is supportive housing. Real estate agent Scott Jennings has forwarded all related comments to Culos.
The development met with serious resistance from local residents when it was first announced in 2017, and more than 14,000 people signed a petition against the construction.
As a result, the housing estate has been changed from allowing local drug use to recreational-based housing.
Last month, Jen Kanters of CMHA told Castanet that they would be working with residents on a case-by-case basis.
“If substance use becomes problematic for this person, for the other residents who live here, or for the community, we would try to switch them to alternative housing that is better suited to their support needs,” she said.
The rooms at McCurdy Place are partially subsidized by BC Housing. Residents pay $ 375 per month, including two meals a day and access to the many on-site support services.
