Housing Central applauds city council’s September 18th decision to create the new Vancouver Affordable Housing Endowment Fund. The Fund will consolidate all of the city’s non-market housing assets and manage them as a single portfolio initially worth about $2 billion. This has the potential to significantly improve the city’s ability to meet the affordable housing needs of its residents, and will help create the diverse, inclusive communities where people of all backgrounds can thrive.
As the principal partners in Housing Central, BC Non-Profit Housing Association and the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC are particularly gratified to see that the Fund’s initial guiding principles include a commitment to partnering with the community housing sector to re-invest in existing affordable housing and grow the supply of new affordable homes.
Housing Central also supports the establishment of an advisory group that will guide the development of VAHEF’s governance structure and operations plan. Incorporating input from community housing stakeholders and government representatives will help ensure VAHEF is better able to meet the various housing needs of residents across the city.
“We think that the provisional mandate and guiding principles capture very well the ambition and mission alignment with partners that will be necessary to achieve the goals of the new fund,” said Thom Armstrong, Executive Director of CHF BC.
For more information about VAHEF, see the City of Vancouver’s announcement here.