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As Vancouver develops, can Champlain Heights preserve its unique forested area?

The city's Social Housing Initiative could make it easier to build new non-profit housing, but residents are concerned the plan could reduce some of the neighbourhood's many green spaces.

Author

Nate Lewis
June 25, 2025

Walking into a public information session in Vancouver there are a few things you expect to see: rows of poster boards with project details lining the edge of the room, city staff lingering around the boards (identifiable by their business casual attire), and public participants milling about, talking to staff and each other in small groups. 

The latest version of this was in Champlain Heights for the city’s Social Housing Initiative (SHI). The initiative proposes pre-zoning certain parts of the city to allow for faster construction of social, supportive, and co-op housing, and provide more certainty for non-profit housing developers and their financiers. 

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