Lack of long-term housing in Sicamous top of mind for committee

A lack of long-term housing available in Sicamous and various other challenges presented by that is of urgent importance to the Sicamous Housing Committee.

In the Nov. 3 Housing Committee meeting, possible solutions were discussed and the planning and development stages of some ongoing projects were explained.

The District of Sicamous rolled out the Housing Needs Assessment in 2021, which took into account survey responses and statistics to identify the housing needs of the community. From that, the Housing Strategy is being developed, which contains several short-term actions that can be implemented as soon as possible. The strategy is still in draft awaiting additional data.

Of these short-term suggestions, a popular idea is an official platform for connecting landlords and tenants.

Another suggestion is increasing the Municipal and Regional District tax (MRDT) for short-term and vacation rental properties by one per cent to potentially fund an affordable housing project.

Revenue made from the MRDT cannot be used for housing initiatives unless the project can prove it has the support of tourism stakeholders and accommodation providers in the same community. .

The housing committee is still in the process of finalizing the housing strategy document, which will then be forwarded to Sicamous council, and from there council will determine if increasing the MRDT for funding affordable housing is a possible strategy. At that time, they will reach out to stakeholders to determine if there is that support.

Council will have to approve any action that moves forward from the housing committee’s strategy, including a minor zoning amendment under R-1 zoning concerning one- and two-family homes.

This amendment would change the land use density requirements and allow lots that currently have one or two family homes on them to build a third structure that acts as an additional dwelling. A third structure could be rented out long-term, helping to tackle the shortage of long-term homes and long-term workers in Sicamous. An amendment like this would be a minor change to a bylaw and was described as low-hanging fruit with strong support from community surveys.

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