City of Powell River is looking to create better conditions for low-income housing to be built after taking the first steps in establishing an affordable housing reserve fund.
At its meeting on Thursday, March 2, council gave the first two readings for the creation of a reserve fund comprised of voluntary donations made by local developers.
Mayor Dave Formosa said the city is looking at following the lead of other local governments and establishing a community amenity contribution fund that developers can choose to pay into at the time of rezoning.
Developer Alan Rebane said after the meeting that he was concerned the approval of zoning applications and development permits would be affected by whether or not someone makes a donation.
“I don’t believe it’s going to be voluntary,” said Rebane.
Formosa said that while it might not be the city’s role to provide the housing, local government can still play a role.
“We don’t want the provincial government downloading this on us saying we need to provide affordable housing,” he said after the meeting. “We need to create opportunity and help private or social enterprise get into that business.”
The city already collects $7,500 from land developers to offset the added costs related to the creation of the development, but city director of planning services Thomas Knight said relying on current development charges would not be enough. Dedicated community amenity contributions would be needed to address the affordable housing problem, he said.
Some larger municipalities, where community amenity contributions have already been implemented, ask for more than $20,000 per lot for development charges alone, he said.
“You have to be a big city, such as Vancouver, Kelowna or Victoria, for charges like that to work,” said Knight.
Creating the fund was only one of the recommendations Knight’s made to council on directions that could be taken to help address the city’s lack of low-cost social housing.
Knight provided city council with a list of potential actions and strategies the city could consider leading, or creating partnerships for, at its February 28 committee of the whole meeting.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said the city’s housing committee has been meeting regularly over the winter and that she is pleased with Knight’s report.
“It’s a great step forward,” said Hathaway. “It gives us a number of things we can do to help.”
Besides preparing a community amenity contribution policy, the report recommends that the city, Tla’amin Nation and Powell River Regional District partner to fund and hire a part-time social planner to support the regional social planning committee and explore the idea of establishing a community land trust.
Knight also recommends the city look at creating a housing legacy reserve fund that will support future affordable housing initiatives; reviews its vacant land holdings for parcels that could be made available for non-profits; allows for increased density in areas where appropriate; and allows for smaller lot sizes, home footprints and narrower lot frontages.
The city has already started implementing some of those recommendations. Even if all of the recommendations are followed, it would take Powell River several years to have enough money to address the city’s affordable housing needs, added Knight.
Hathaway said she has provided members of the standing committee with Knight’s recommendations for discussion, but has not heard any input yet.
She added that the committee will continue to meet as long as it is necessary, but more research into the actual need for affordable housing should be completed, something a social planner may be able to do.
Hathaway said Lifecycle Housing is planning to expand the amount of low-cost housing it provides in Cranberry and Inclusion Powell River is building social housing on Ontario Street though BC Housing.
If the regional committee can find the money to hire a social planner, Knight said the list of actions may provide that person with a head start in addressing the affordable housing issue.
Council is expecting a report from city chief financial officer Kathleen Day at an upcoming meeting on how the affordable housing fund will operate.
