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Revolutionary ideas needed to address Kelowna’s unaffordable housing

Unconventional solutions detailed to solve problem

A report to city council examined the state of housing unaffordability in Kelowna. It looked at how the conversation is framed and what local governments can do to react. Kelowna10 is reporting on the document through a series of stories.


An extensive rethinking of policy and process is needed to address housing unaffordability in Kelowna.

That comes according to a report put before lawmakers this week, which outlined a dire look at the drastic unaffordable state of housing in the city. Titled Housing unaffordability: crisis or crossroads?, it aimed to answer a few key questions about the state of housing in the city, how it is discussed, and how local governments play a part.

Among the possible solutions, purchasing buildings for rentals. This practise is becoming more common around the world.

A prominent example took place in Vancouver, where the city bought several former hotels for below-market rentals. Some of the money to buy the property came from federal programs. Castlegar and Kamloops have undertaken similar projects to create both market and below-market housing.

The report also detailed an example from Berlin, Germany. There, the municipal government bought nearly 15,000 rental units to remove them from the private market. In this case, the measure was approved by a non-binding referendum, triggered by widespread demonstrations and objections to increasing rents.

Zoning Changes

Removing exclusionary zoning is also proposed. State legislators in Oregon and California are toying with or have already passed laws to overrule local governments and allow density where only single-family housing was allowed, the report said.

Supporters say it will improve access to missing middle housing, while critics say allowing more density will inflate land prices and not improve affordability without further mechanisms in place.

“Either way, by permitting additional dwelling types on more land, the exclusionary nature of single-family zoning is reduced. Policy such as this needs to be crafted with careful consideration of the impacts,” the report said.

Additional affordable housing can also help drive down prices. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a new zoning law was recently applied across the entire city.

It adds a bonus for more housing units if the unit is rented out at an affordable rate for people making the median wage, or less.

“This policy change is heralded as ‘best in class’ for its creation of permanently affordable units alongside an immediate doubling in allowable density,” the report said.

Portland has enacted similar rules, allowing a single-family home to be replaced with up to six units in a single lot. Different ownership and rental rules can apply to each building.

“The impact of these changes on affordability are not yet fully known. The examples do show that the current state of affordability, worldwide, is initiating change,” the report said. “The devil is in the details on such policy development.”

Partnerships, Non-Profit Shift

Changing who is the primary builders of housing can also spur cost improvements. This includes moving away from an emphasis on for-profit housing and allowing more co-op and non-profit initiatives. This can include partnerships with private for-profit developers.

Developing on public land can remove the cost associated with buying the land, translating into end user savings.

Cooperative housing models have seen renewed interest across Canada.

“Co-ops typically operate as non-profits, with some structured to have equity shares, and can offer affordability that comes with secure tenure and a stake in co-op self governance,” the report said.

Several new co-ops have gone up in the Lower Mainland. They were joint creations by the Co-op Housing Federation of B.C., the federal, provincial, and municipal governments, a non-profit housing provider and a land trust.

“While we’ve put provocative ideas in the report, they are based on examples that have occurred in places similar to here and ones that we think are within municipal reach,” city planner Daniel Sturgeon said.

No firm action items are laid out in the document, as it acts more of a thematic overview of situations and can be used to guide future policy.

Lawmakers agree more needs to be done and want to take bold action, but at the same time are mindful some of the moves they’ve already made have likely driven up land values, too.

This includes things like drawing a line on sprawl -- though necessary for long term cost savings -- as well as up zoning and adding density.

“We need to start splitting out those housing [issues],” Coun. Brad Sieben said. “I think we need separate strategies for each,” be it rental housing, first time home ownership or supportive housing.

He said the amount of wealth generated from rising home prices needs to be addressed, too.

“Grandparents who bought their homes in 1972 never in their foggiest dreams would have thought they could sell their homes for $800,000 or $900,000,” he said. “That wealth in our community is something we can’t ignore either. How is that going to be transitioned to people? How can that help people get into the market?”

Many point to the province as also playing a role, though are thankful for the ample number of affordable housing units B.C. Housing has broke ground on in Kelowna.

In 2022, city staff will undertake a new Housing Needs Assessment, as required by the province. Following that, an update to the Healthy Housing Strategy will begin.

Other initiatives underway are ongoing rental-incentives, implementation of the Affordable Housing Land Acquisition Strategy and a variety of infill options are being developed.

Published 2022-01-13 by Tyler Marr

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