Housing societies seek funding from qathet Region District

Delegation requests district to allocate Municipal and Regional District Tax revenues toward affordable rental housing

qathet Region District (qRD) directors have been requested to consider allocated Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT) funding to established non-profit societies such as Life Cycle Housing Society, Sunset Homes Society and Kiwanis Housing Society. At the July 8 committee of the whole meeting, Pat Christy, Life Cycle Housing Society secretary, said the housing crisis is established rather than being a short-term situation, and for low-income renters and young middle income earners that want to buy homes, it’s even more serious. She said 10 years ago, the province took important steps to start addressing the problem by establishing a community housing fund to build rental homes for people that needed them.

The program was successful, according to Christy. In 2022 the province created the Housing Supply Act, requiring local authorities to set housing supply targets for local communities, said Christy. Public lands were identified for housing and there was legislation around short-term rental housing.

“Those were important moves, but the actual supply of affordable housing has been lacking,” said Christy. “Our whole region has welcomed new housing construction over the past 10 years. Local and not-so-local developers have invested in condos and rental housing, single-family dwellings, and the community housing program helped our society build Cranberry Place and is behind the Tla’amin Nation development in Townsite.

“However, even with all this construction, things are not all together for renters. Incomes are stagnant and living costs are increasing. Many must spend more than 30 per cent of their incomes on housing, leaving less for heating, transportation and food.”

Christy said new condos are going unoccupied because they are not affordable. She added that affordability for existing tenants has worsened, compared to a year ago, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation statistics. An oversupply of unsold homes does not create downward pressure on rents, according to Christy.

She said in March, the committee of the whole recommended that the regional board direct staff to report back with options for future use of MRDT tax revenue. The MRDT program draws on special taxation on rooms, such as at hotels, or short-term rentals, primarily to fund tourism marketing, but also to fund housing. “Our delegation asks that this staff report include consultation with local non-profit housing providers regarding possible uses of this tax money, which I understand is about $100,000 per year,” said Christy.

“We ask when staff are expected to begin work on this report. These tax dollars could contribute to planning and development, or the retention and protection of social housing. Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne asked about the status of the report, and chief administrative officer Al Radke said it was in the staff work plan.

General manager of financial administration Linda Greenan reviewed MRDT tax program requirements, and in an appendix, it asks what kind of program is the money to be spent on, and included providing funding to an existing housing project. “Based on that portion of the MRDT fund, it potentially can be used for existing projects,” said Greenan. Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick put forward a motion that the committee recommend the board direct staff to include the non-market housing sector in its research for the MRDT revenue allocation report previously requested by the regional board on April 7.

“It’s a good direction for us to make sure this sector is included because that is the sector that we are ultimately trying to reach,” said McCormick. “The MRDT was created to include housing for the hospitality industry so that restaurants would be able to hire servers. The need, however, has grown so far beyond that.”

The motion carried the motion unanimously. In correspondence to the regional district, Christy stated the qRD has access to significant funds to improve the local housing situation, and the decision-making authority to support societies that have been working in that field for many years. “Instead of putting a hold on this money for one or two years, you could be making a real difference in our region,” stated Christy.

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