Photo: Contributed
Progressive Conservative leader Erin O’Toole (left) and Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray (right) met with CHBA-CO president Cassidy deVeer and executive officer Daniel Winer earlier this month.
As home prices in the Okanagan continue to shoot for the moon, the perception of many is that they are popping Champagne corks and blowing into noisemakers in the Central Okanagan branch of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.
That could not be further from the truth, because their employees have to find places to live as well.
“We have so many builders that are second- and third-generation Kelowna born and raised, and they’re seeing what’s happening,” CHBA-CO executive director Daniel Winer says. “These builders hire local tradespeople—carpenters, electricians, heating and cooling experts, flooring and tile installers. Is talent going to be able to afford to live here so that they can hire the skilled workers needed to build the homes necessary in Kelowna?
“If those people can’t afford to have a home here, everything kind of bottoms out.”
That’s why the CHBA-CO was pleased to see the recent release of the report called “Opening doors: unlocking housing supply for affordability,” courtesy of the Canada-British Columbia expert panel on the future of housing supply and affordability.
The report makes 23 recommendations to make housing in B.C. more affordable, and Winer is hoping one of the outcomes is better co-operation among the three levels of government as the affordable housing issue is tackled.
The CHBA-CO wants to see more homes produced at a faster rate, giving more hopeful homeowners more options. The organization believes there are several ways to do that, including the City of Kelowna approving densification projects opposed by neighbourhood associations.
That densification, which is well under way in the urban areas of the Central Okanagan, is another area that could use improvement, according to the CHBA-CO. Winer would like to see densification policies put in place at the same time in all urban core neighbourhoods, because they’re getting done one at a time, but the land values in all of them are increasing simultaneously.
“If land has gone from $100,000 to $300,000 for a parcel, and you plan to build a duplex then you’ve added $100,000 to the cost of a home before you’ve even broken ground,” Winer says. “By allowing for densification in a wider area faster, it adds more competition to the market, and provides clarity to buyers, sellers and builders. It not only helps to moderate housing prices but also, because you know the planning in advance, it gets the city to its goals faster.”
Winer says his fleet of members in the CHBA-CO is up for the challenge of building as many homes as possible as quickly as possible, whether they’re single-family homes, apartments, condos, duplexes or fourplexes.
“We need brave politicians is what we really need,” Winer says. “We need brave politicians and leadership to make this an issue and show our renting class and our aspiring homeowners that they’re here for them and that they want to support them.”
This article is written by or on behalf of the sponsoring client and does not necessarily reflect the views of Okanagan Edge.
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