More grants for rental housing developers as Kelowna fights abysmal vacancy rate

KELOWNA – Its been six years since they city began offering incentives to developers to build rental housing with the aim of constructing 300 units a year and heading off a growing rental crisis.

But just an average of 168 units were built each year from 2012 when the city first began offering grants and tax exemptions to 2016 when a record 300 units came online.

The lack of uptake has left the city about 1,300 rental units shy of its goal and despite its best efforts, has seen the rental vacancy rate drop even further from 0.7 percent in 2015 to 0.2 per cent as measured by Canada Mortgage and Housing in the fall of 2017.

That rate is amongst one of Canada’s lowest and Kelowna council will hear Monday, Jan. 22, from planner specialist Ross Soward the latest recommendation for 2018 grant recipients, four projects representing 302 units with two downtown, one in Rutland and another near Okanagan College.

Kelowna will spend $420,00 on grants this year. A 68-unit project on Fuller Avenue and another with 58 units on Clement a few blocks over will be available for regular rentals while a 154-unit project on KLO Road will be purpose built for seniors and a 22-unit building on Rutland Road will be aimed at the student housing market.

In his report to council, Soward says some of the four project developers will also be eligible for 10-year revitalization tax exemptions and he anticipates some of them will apply.

He also notes 1,373 rental housing units began construction in 2017 and that 863 of the 1,070 units approved for grants last year are already under construction and should come online beginning late this year or early 2019.

That should bring a moderate improvement in the vacancy rate, Soward says, although he stops short of predicting a dramatic improvement, noting that brisk population growth has so far outpaced new rental housing development.

Kelowna council will consider the rental housing grant recommendations from staff at its regular meeting, 1:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22 at Kelowna city hall.


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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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