Days after its grand opening, Downtown Eastside residents are enjoying an innovative social housing complex that offers subsidized units and a new health-care facility.
Bob & Michael’s Place, located at 54 West Hastings Street, began accepting low-income tenants in 2024, but officially opened its affordable homes at an event with the help of government officials on Friday.
As one of over 300 residents, Hossein Ghahghahani says Bob & Michael’s Place was exactly what he needed, when he needed it.
Ghahghahani moved to Vancouver seven years ago for a better life.
“I was disappointed in my future in Iran,” he explained.
But as a newcomer to Canada, he struggled to find affordable and safe housing.
“’How can I pay my bills, or rent, or something like that?’ Because I sometimes couldn’t have the job. It could be very sensitive. I get anxiety. I was depressed. Sometimes I don’t know what I should do,” said Ghahghahani.
Things changed for Ghahghahani when he found Bob & Michael’s Place.
“This place, it was totally an amazing experience for me. I was shocked. And I can’t believe that I had a chance to get this place. It’s safe. It was everything that I was thinking about before that.”
Carol Lee is Chair of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, which has been working on the project for over a decade, collaborating with all levels of government to address the gaps in affordable housing.
“The idea was, ‘How can you build a housing project that actually wants to create a community within a community?’ And our slogan was, ‘building housing was one thing, but building community is everything.’”
In addition to affordable homes, Bob & Michael’s Place offers wellness, mentoring, and life skills support to its residents. On Friday, it also opened a new 50,000 square-foot health centre on the first floor with help from Vancouver Coastal Health – something the federal Minister of Housing and former Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, says sets the bar for the entire country.
“It’s been an extraordinary community effort to bring this to what it is today, and it’s an example for all of Canada,” said Robertson. “With affordable housing, supportive housing with health support here in the building.”
Ghahghahani says he hopes Vancouver and the rest of the country can see the hope that Bob & Michael’s Place offers.
“They have a chance, like me, to move to a safe place — clean and calm.”