COLLINS: Tread carefully when planning affordable housing

Oct 15, 2023 | 5:45 AM

HAVING COME UNDER THE EYE of Big Brother Eby in Victoria, Kamloops must now come up with some 4,000 units of housing, because we’re one of the “bad boys” in the province who haven’t done enough to provide affordable housing units.

To be sure, we could do better than we have, but City staff say we don’t have to plan for more than 13% more units that we’re already planning for. And that’s a blessing. Because the worst mistake we can possibly make is to panic and make blunders that will cost us more in the long run.

Despite pressure from the suits in Victoria, we have to approach this slow and easy. You can’t rush around and find every bare spot in the City and identify it as a housing site. There has to be some real planning here.

We have to identify what “affordable “ means, and it won’t be the same here as it is in Vancouver or Langley. It all has to be tied into a master plan that makes sense.

Obviously some of the units will be purposed for use by the marginalized population. What will that look like? Where will those units be located? Those residents likely won’t have their own means of transportation. That will have to be factored in. There will have to be support services available so location will be key.

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Then we have to look at the next level of affordability. Who will that appeal to? Does that level of support need additional services?

And then there’s the missing middle class, so often ignored in all these social justice plans. How many units will we be able to build to help those people? And how do we convince builders to get on board? Businessmen put a lot of money into their developments, and they need to see some return on investment. If they charge tenants less than it costs to run the building, who makes up the loss?

These are serious questions and need to be given serious consideration. The various types of housing have to be placed where they best fit in. That is no easy task. And we’ll likely only get one chance at this.

If we don’t do it right, we’ll live with the consequences for decades. That would be a tragedy even greater than the one we’re trying to deal with now.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Doug Collins

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COLLINS: Tread carefully when planning affordable housing

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