Skip to content

UPDATED: Fire just one more issue for vacant Coquitlam housing co-op

Discussions over future of Hoy Creek Housing Co-op spurred by Wednesday morning blaze
Hoy Creek Co-op fire
A blaze on Wednesday destroyed the upper floor and balcony of a townhouse unit at the vacant Hoy Creek Housing Co-op. Leaky-condo rot, faulty plumbing and a neglected roof have made the units uninhabitable and the last tenant moved out of the area more than a year ago.

 

A fire in an abandoned unit of the vacant Hoy Creek Housing Co-op in Coquitlam is re-igniting discussions concerning the future of the Glen Drive property.

The blaze broke out shortly after 5 a.m. Wednesday, damaging the upper floor and balcony of one of the empty townhouses. Electricity has been cut for months and Hugh Tait, the volunteer president of the society that oversees the property, said the fire was likely caused by someone who had entered the building during the night.

“It didn’t start spontaneously, let’s put it that way,” he said, adding that keeping the building secure has been a constant problem. “It doesn’t stop. We are boarding them up every day. Every day we re-board and every night they open them up.”

Wednesday’s fire is only the most recent problem to hit the co-op.

Neglect, bad plumbing and leaky condo rot have made the 60 townhouse units uninhabitable and the last tenant moved out over a year ago, according to Tait. There are still 30 occupied units in an apartment building facing Glen Drive but everything on the northern portion has been boarded up. 

There have been plans in the works since 2012 to sell a portion of the property to a developer and use the profits to build two new, five-storey buildings that would house approximately 160 seniors and families. But the project has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which pays the mortgage on the property, needs to approve the proposal, said Tait.

He noted that even knocking the buildings down, which was supposed to happen this summer, requires CMHC to sign off, and funding issues have hampered any progress on the development. 

In the meantime, the buildings sit empty.

“There are families that do not have homes because of this,” Tait said. 

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart told The Tri-City News that he has been disappointed with the lack of progress on the project.

“It has frustrated me for the last few years,” he said. “I would have thought this could have been easier. It has been an incredible challenge to bring the parties together to see about replacing that.”

Still, he noted that some progress has been made. 

A proponent was found to take on the market-housing side of the project and the city is working with the society and its consultant to finalize the plans for the subsidized portion of the site, the mayor said. He added that he is trying to get in touch with CMHC to urge the corporation to do whatever it takes to allow the project to move forward. 

If the buildings are not taken down soon, Stewart said, council could pursue a resolution ordering their demolition. That would set the stage for the city to tear down the structures, putting a charge for the work against the land.

Meanwhile, Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam MP Ron McKinnon said he would also be pushing the CMHC to expedite the process of redeveloping the land. He noted that the housing society has been strapped financially in large part due to the fact they have not been collecting rents on the vacant units. 

McKinnon said the CMHC needs to be able to accommodate those issues in order to get the building redeveloped and back to a place where it is in better financial standing.

“They have been between a rock and a hard place, financially,” said the Liberal MP. “That is something the CMHC has to recognize.”

A CMHC spokesperson responded to The Tri-City News with an email that stated, in part: “CMHC is aware of the co-op’s difficulties and is assisting the agency as required.

“CMHC’s interest with respect to the redevelopment is to ensure that households currently subsidized would not be adversely impacted and that federal investments in the co-op are safeguarded.”

Despite all of the issues facing the Hoy Creek Housing Co-op over the last few years, Tait remains optimistic. If the society is successful with its redevelopment efforts and able to build additional units for seniors and families with the proceeds of the land sale, it could be a model for other co-op housing societies to follow, he said.

gmckenna@tricitynews.com

@gmckennaTC