This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Vancouver, British Columbia. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

The City requires Indigenous-Led Non-Profit organizations experienced in designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining social housing projects for a project at 1736-1768 East Hastings. This Request for Proposal ("RFP") is an invitation from the City of Vancouver ("City") to Indigenous led non-profit organizations (the "Proponent(s)") experienced in funding applications, rezoning, designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining social housing projects to submit proposals (the "Proposals") for a new mixed-use Social Housing[1] project at 1736-1768 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC (the "Site"), as further described in this RFP. In this RFP, the City will refer to the Proponent that is selected, approved by Council and awarded a contract, as the "Selected Proponent" The Proponent must be an Indigenous non-profit housing provider legally incorporated in BC. Non-indigenous, non-profit housing providers may respond to this RFP under the condition that they partner with Indigenous non-profit housing providers. If a non-profit housing provider or private partner is responding to the RFP with a partner, the non-profit housing provider must be the partner responsible for responding to the RFP. The City will consider the Indigenous non-profit housing provider to be the Proponent. The Selected Proponent awarded under this RFP will be required to submit a proposal to the BC Housing Indigenous Housing Fund ("IHF") on or before April 30, 2024 and may also be advised to seek out additional capital funding form senior government agencies. Recognizing that the earliest the project could commence construction is early 2028, other funding/financing sources could include a subsequent BC Housing IHF, funding from the BC Housing Community Housing Fund in 2024, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Commission Affordable Housing Fund, among other sources. The development located at 1736-1768 East Hastings Street contemplates the opportunity for a 12 story, approximate 112 unit housing project (the "Housing Project") with commercial use on the ground floor to be occupied by a community-service or commercial tenant (the "Commercial Project") and, together with the Housing Project, is the Project (the "Project"). The Site consists of a 5-parcel land assembly in Vancouver's Grandview-Woodland community. The assembly forms a 220 foot x 122 foot mid-block development site and preliminary planning advice and massing indicates that it is eligible for rezoning to a density of 3.62 FSR (97,703 buildable square feet) and up to 12 storeys in building height, envisioning +/-112 new units of housing over commercial space.at grade. Given the available massing is very preliminary in nature, there may be opportunity for additional density to be explored in consultation with the Selected Proponent, NMHD, the design team and the City Planning Department. The Commercial Project is presently envisioned as an approximate 11,000 square foot (approximate 1,022 square metre) area with separate access, separately metered services, and required parking spaces for vehicles and bikes. The Selected Proponent will be required to finance and fund the construction of the Commercial Project and lease it at fair market value to improve the economic viability of the Housing Project or alternatively, to partner with a community service organization that will finance and fund the construction of the Commercial Project and demonstrate ongoing independent financial viability. Costs will be divided on a proportional basis between the Housing Project and the Commercial Project. The City will provide interim funding to facilitate the submission of the project to the IHF. Subject to the outcome of this funding submission, the City may also include funds to complete the due diligence, conceptual design and the detailed design of the Project, or until such time as the Selected Proponent is able to secure preliminary development funding for the Project ("Project Start-up Costs"). Once funding is secured, the Selected Proponent will arrange for the City to be reimbursed for the Project Start-up Costs. The Selected Proponent will pay for the costs of the Project Start-up Costs and the construction of the Project. The Selected Proponent will also assume long-term (60-year) operational and maintenance obligations upon completion. The structure of the relationship between the Selected Proponent and the City will be as follows: Enter into a development management agreement (the "DMA") under which the Selected Proponent will, assuming a successful application to the IHF, lead the Project Management Team and complete the Site's due diligence, rezoning and enactment process, and detailed design with support provided by the City's Non-Market Housing Development Department. The DMA will set out the conditions under which the Selected Proponent will become the lead of the Project Management Team and take over the management of the Project. Depending on when the Selected Proponent has access to sufficient pre-development funding, the Selected Proponent will lead the rezoning process, assemble the project team, obtain all remaining permits, and progress the design and construct the Project. The City will lead the Project Management Team through the appropriate milestones, until such time as the leadership transition can occur. The Selected Proponent will be responsible to manage the development of the Project under the DMA, in collaboration with the City and funding partners. As part of the DMA and provided all conditions precedent in the DMA are satisfied, the Selected Proponent will agree to enter into a ground lease (the "Ground Lease") under which the Selected Proponent obtains a registrable interest in the Site in anticipation of receiving funding from BC Housing under the 2024 Indigenous Housing Fund. In order to obtain such funding, the Selected Proponent will be required to enter into certain agreements with BC Housing, which may include a leasehold mortgage against the Ground Lease and an operating agreement to cover the operating subsidies required to make the Housing Project feasible. In the event that the Selected Proponent's application to the 2024 IHF is unsuccessful, the City may at its sole discretion either terminate the DMA or continue to work with the Selected Proponent to identify alternative funding scenarios in a timely manner. Any funding scheme must meet the City's minimum affordability required for Social Housing. At its sole discretion, the City may choose to continue to advance the Project Start-up Costs while the Selected Proponent pursues alternative funding. The Ground Lease will also set out the terms and conditions upon which the Selected Proponent would enter into a sub-lease for the Commercial Project (the "Sublease"). The Selected Proponent would tenant, operate, and maintain the Housing Project and Commercial Project for 60 years pursuant to the Ground Lease and the Sublease. The Site was recently purchased by the City. This five parcel land assembly is currently improved with five standalone buildings, two of which have sustained recent fire damage and are planned for imminent demolition. These two parcels will temporarily serve to provide another civic use until late 2027 or early 2028 during which time the Selected Proponent will be actively rezoning and designing the Project. The remaining three parcels are each improved with a building and are leased short-term. The leases will continue until such time as the properties are rezoned, consolidated and the Selected Proponent enters the Ground Lease. The Site is in the early stages of due diligence. A Phase 1 and Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment has determined the presence of contaminants and further work will be required to complete the investigation. The City is currently examining different options for the management and funding of the Site's remediation and the approach will be chosen in collaboration with the Selected Proponent in advance of the IHF application. Geotechnical studies have not yet been initiated. The Selected Proponent, in collaboration with the City, will be required to submit an application to BC Housing's 2024 Indigenous Housing Fund. Under this program, BC Housing provides one or more of capital grants, equity contributions and/or low-cost financing for the design, permitting, and construction of social housing projects, as well as operating subsidies to achieve an affordability of 100% Rent Geared to Income (RGI) towards the residential component (the "BC Housing Affordability"), subject to what BC Housing refers to as "final project approval". The City will collaborate with the Selected Proponent to identify additional funding beyond that which may be provided through other sources. Pending a successful application to the 2024 Indigenous Housing Fund, the Selected Proponent will be required to enter into an operating agreement with BC Housing and other agreements, such as a leasehold mortgage. The objective of the Housing Project is to provide mixed-income housing aiming for the "BC Housing Affordability", but at a minimum, the Housing Project's affordability must meet or exceed the City's legal definition for affordability, which is set out in the City's bylaws and termed "Social Housing" (see explanation of definition above) (the "Required Availability"). As noted above, the Selected Proponent will be required to enter into the DMA and then provide certain services to the City to facilitate the collaboration of the Selected Proponent and City in the completion of the design and permitting of the Project. The Selected Proponent will work cooperatively with the City and BC Housing to finalize the potential funding and contractual arrangements between the Selected Proponent and BC Housing. These third party agreements have yet to be negotiated and secured, but the City anticipates that they will include an operating agreement to secure the necessary operating subsidies, a financing agreement that will enable the Selected Proponent to reimburse the City for the Project Start-up Costs and any City incurred remaining costs to complete the construction of the Project. The DMA will also obligate the Selected Proponent to utilize reasonable best efforts to work with the City and BC Housing to seek out additional capital funding from other senior government agencies (e.g. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) and possibly any other available sources of third party funding for the Housing Project. Proponents must have the necessary experience, resources and capacity to undertake the Project responsibilities outlined in this RFP. However, if lacking in certain elements of resources or capacity, Proponents are encouraged to partner with other organizations, community groups and/or government partners to strengthen their Proposal as per the guidelines set out in the BC Housing's 2024 Indigenous Housing Fund. The RFP will be administered by the City's Supply Chain Management group ("SCM") and the DMA will be managed by the Non-Market Housing Development ("NMHD") team with respect to the Housing and Commercial Projects. The NMHD team's primary mandate is to create and expedite the delivery of Social Housing in Vancouver through innovative partnerships with various organizations and senior levels of government. The DMA and the Ground Lease (see note below) will set out the City's and Selected Proponent's rights and obligations under the Project. The City will evaluate the Proposals partially by evaluating the Proponent's experience in: Social Housing operations; Mixed-use and multi-unit residential asset management; Design and construction management; Securing senior government and other third-party funding/financing; Operating within a building co-located with other operators/tenants; and Organizational governance and financial management. Please note that Proponents will be provided with a DMA no later than two weeks following the issuance of the RFP. The DMA will be issued as an amendment to this RFP and as the content for the Forms of Agreement. Upon issuance of this RFP, Proponents will note that the Forms of Agreement section is blank. However the Forms of Agreement section is intended as a "placeholder" for the DMA and any other sample forms of agreement that the City wishes to provide to the Proponents as part of this RFP process. Question Submission Close Date 2/23/2024 3:00 PM PST Potential Proponents interested in attending the Information Meeting should pre-register for the Information Meeting by submitting their attendees' names, titles and contact information using the Q&A Board section of this RFP prior to Wednesday, February 21, 2024, 12:00 pm. If you need more information on this event, please contact: Jim Lowood +1 604-873-7257 Jim.Lowood@vancouver.ca The term of any Agreement is expected to be for a sixty year period.