Photo: Contributed
Les Bellamy, left, took over from Justin O’Connor.
Kelowna’s Les Bellamy could not have picked a more action-packed time to slip into the president’s chair of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association-Central Okanagan chapter.
The speculation tax is almost here, there is a housing affordability issue in the region, and the government red tape required to build a home keeps getting thicker.
“I will not be bored,” Bellamy said Wednesday.
The Bellamy Homes owner became president last Friday during the CHBA-CO’s annual general meeting after spending two years as its vice-president. His two-year term as the boss promises to be an eventful one.
The most pressing issue right off the hop for Bellamy is the speculation tax, which he says has already caused more than $400 million in cancelled contracts for his members in the Central Okanagan alone.
“It’s just the speculation of the speculation tax,” Bellamy said. “And this is throughout the Central Okanagan, so it’s not just in the Kelowna and West Kelowna area. We’re getting reports from builders in Vernon, builders in Lake Country, of the impact.
“Consumers are scared. They’re not sure what’s going to happen.”
Bellamy’s role as president will be to participate in the campaign to eliminate the spec tax or at least change it from its current form.
“Our position is the speculation is not a tax on speculators,” he said. “It’s a penalty on vacation property owners with a sneaky title, and it’s having a complete, opposite effect of what it’s intended for.”
The $400 million in cancelled contracts, according to Bellamy, works out to between 500 and 600 homes in the region that have not been built.
“That is not helping availability, and when you don’t have that product coming on the market, existing stock becomes more valuable because there’s less to choose from,” he said. “So now the pricing goes up on existing stock. It is having the complete opposite effect.
“People are looking to the association and of course then they look to the leader, saying ‘What are we doing about this?’ We lobby government. We give them the facts. We give them the information. We give them alternatives. Unfortunately, so far the feedback we’ve been getting is they’re not listening. So that’s a challenge for us.”
Bellamy added the “astronomical” government fees to build a home are not helping the housing affordability and attainability issues in the Central Okanagan, either.
“Housing affordability and attainability is huge on our list (of priorities),” he said. “It’s probably where we’re really focusing on right now, advocating on behalf of consumers to make sure that housing is affordable and attainable for everyone. It’s a necessity of life. It needs to be a focus.
“In today’s society we’re all very conscientious of our responsibility to community. It’s also a very competitive industry. So everybody keeps their pencils pretty sharp.”
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