220 Terminal Avenue, Vancouver’s First Temporary Modular Housing

Vancouver has an immediate need for both interim and permanent housing.  Placing modular housing on vacant and underutilized sites pending redevelopment quickly increases the supply of affordable housing until more permanent housing can be built.  To facilitate a new modular housing project, the City of Vancouver provided undeveloped, City-owned land to VAHA for a modular housing development at 220 Terminal Avenue. Funding to support this development came from the Government of Canada, Vancity, and a private donation.

Horizon North was selected from a shortlist of manufacturers to construct the temporary modular housing project at 220 Terminal Avenue.  Through use of innovative design ideas and products, the building can be relocated and reconfigured to fit a number of different sites; even the foundation system is reusable.  The unique design allows the temporary modular homes to be relocated to future sites.

Completed in February 2017, the modular home development at 220 Terminal Avenue features 40 self-contained suites with a bathroom, a kitchen, shared laundry and communal indoor and outdoor amenity space.  Four of the suites were designed to accommodate persons with accessibility requirements and featured customized layouts and a user-friendly adaptive design.

This modular development was progressed from idea to occupancy in approximately six months for low- and fixed-income Vancouver residents.  Through this innovative project, 40 people now have a secure, affordable new home in Vancouver.

VAHA continues to explore temporary modular housing projects on new sites to create even more below-market rental housing for Vancouver residents.