Kamloops Community Land Trust project at 377 Tranquille (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

Eight-plus years of advocacy

Kamloops Community Land Trust eyeing fall budget for major policy change

Oct 28, 2026 | 4:20 PM

KAMLOOPS —The Kamloops Community Land Trust Foundation is currently in the process of building out its first major housing project at 377 Tranquille Road, a six-storey, 85-unit rental building. The foundation has been hoping to expand but taxation imposed on gifted land transfers has remained a major hurdle. Now, there is hope that could soon be changing.

Convincing someone to donate land to a community land trust isn’t easy. Add in the fact the donation will be taxed and it presents a major challenge that Kamloops has been advocating to change.

“[The] major deterrent remains, right now, federally because instead of it being acknowledged as an act of generosity and something that can benefit communities, it’s taxed through the roof,” said Kamloops councillor Katie Neustaeter. “And so this council passed a resolution and has made appeals.”

Those appeals, stretching eight years long, may now be bearing fruit, with potential for change coming as soon as next week in Ottawa.

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“The federal finance minister has put our policy forward as a recommendation to the prime minister’s office (PMO) for this fall budget, which has been our goal,” said Colin O’Leary, board chair of the Kamloops Community Land Trust. “There is still an opportunity for the PMO to cancel the policy, so that was part of my emergency trip to Ottawa.”

Should the policy appear in the federal fall budget, the process will begin on legislating the change into law.

“We expect a national task force to be pulled together to work out the details. It could be implemented with the majority control in the feds right now as fast as three months, but could take upwards of a year if it’s in the budget,” added O’Leary.

“That is the first motion we passed as this council and so it seems very poetic to tie it up with that hopeful lens of what could be,” said Neustaeter.

While the community land trust awaits the November 5 budget, work is progressing on its first major housing project along Tranquille.

“We have operating certainty now, which is a monumental step for the organization,” said O’Leary. “This includes securing operational funding with two years remaining which is enough for us to bridge to our own source revenue from 377 Tranquille.”

377 Tranquille is scheduled to begin welcoming renters in early 2028.

by Michael Reeve

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Kamloops Community Land Trust eyeing fall budget for major policy change

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