Kelowna city council expressed concerns around BC Housing's Middle Income Housing Partnership plan, which proposes leasing city-owned land to developers at a low price in order to create more affordable homes for middle-income residents.<\/p>\n
Concerns were expressed by council at the small percentage of affordable housing that will be produced by the plan. The draft plan proposes that 20% of the developed homes will be sold at 20% below current market rates.<\/p>\n
Councillor Loyal Wooldridge called this ratio a “very scant number in regards to the need within the community.”<\/p>\n
Mayor Tom Dyas appeared more optimistic.<\/p>\n
“The benchmark is set around 20%. The hope is that it… gets to 25% or 30% depending upon where all those numbers come into play,” Dyas said.<\/p>\n
However, the city needs a tenfold increase in affordable housing if it's to meet the current demand and, while the new plan will create more affordable housing for the middle-class, lower-income residents will not benefit.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> Kelowna plans to hand over city land in exchange for affordable housing<\/a><\/p>\n Homes created under the new plan will cater towards residents earning between $42,000 and $87,000, who are struggling to keep up with the expensive rental market.<\/p>\n The current average monthly rent for a two-bedroom rental in Kelowna is $1,805.<\/p>\n With the proposed 20% reduction, rent on the new homes would come in at around $1,444 a month.<\/p>\n READ MORE: <\/strong>Kamloops, Kelowna buck national rental vacancy increase trend<\/a><\/p>\n Councillor Ron Cannon pointed out that the newly proposed reductions may still be unattainable for the $42,000 salary bracket that are said to benefit.<\/p>\n Ben Walker, the city's real estate services manager, acknowledged the limited impact the plan will have on low-income residents.<\/p>\n “It is not a silver bullet solution to the shortage and it will not solve the housing challenges faced by low and very low-income households,” he said.<\/p>\n To contact a reporter for this story, email Georgina Whitehouse<\/a> or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor<\/a>. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom<\/a> and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kelowna city council expressed concerns around BC Housing's Middle Income Housing Partnership plan, which proposes leasing city-owned land to developers at a low price in order to create more affordable homes for middle-income residents. Concerns were expressed by council at the small percentage of affordable housing that will be produced by the plan. The draft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":545,"featured_media":1116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"iNFOnews","byline":"Georgina Whitehouse","published":"2024-02-05T08:56:07","updated":"2024-02-05T16:56:07","_infotelid":"IT103056","_prepressid":"103056","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[540,2,541,543],"tags":[345,385,47,16,396],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-1117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight","category-inhome","category-local","category-topnews","tag-city-of-kelowna-2024","tag-georgina-whitehouse","tag-housing-crisis","tag-kelowna-news","tag-klfeb2024","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/1117\/not-a-silver-bullet-solution-kelowna-council-concerned-with-new-housing-plan-2\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘Not a silver bullet solution’: Kelowna council concerned with new housing plan","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/1117\/not-a-silver-bullet-solution-kelowna-council-concerned-with-new-housing-plan-2\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/1117\/not-a-silver-bullet-solution-kelowna-council-concerned-with-new-housing-plan-2\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/MediaItemID99542-8580.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/MediaItemID99542-8580.jpeg"},"articleSection":"highlight","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Georgina Whitehouse"}],"creator":["Georgina Whitehouse"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":["city of kelowna 2024","georgina whitehouse","housing crisis","kelowna news","klfeb2024"],"dateCreated":"2024-02-05T16:56:07Z","datePublished":"2024-02-05T16:56:07Z","dateModified":"2024-02-06T00:56:07Z"},"rendered":"
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