North Shuswap Kicker April 2022

CSRD Receives Area F Housing Study

By Jo Anne Malpass

Lack of serviced land for community supported projects and denser development was cited as a frequent concern by stakeholders, Urbanics Consultants reported in its housing needs assessment for Area F North Shuswap.

The report, presented by Brendan Dawe, Urbanics Associate, to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District Board in March said “Extension of servicing, especially community water systems, is required for the extension of complete communities, however, is also a highly expensive undertaking with the potential for long term financial burden from ongoing maintenance and replacement.”

“It may be prudent to attempt to steer development towards denser development which can make use of a given amount of infrastructure more intensively.”

Completion of a housing report is a provincial prerequisite before the area’s master plan can be updated.

“Using data drawn from the CSRD, Statistics Canada, as well as BC Stats, we were able to form a statistical picture of the housing situation in the Area. This, combined with interviews with stakeholders, local governments, and surveys of local residents, shows a picture of a rural region that has seen housing costs expand along with population growth,” says the report.

North Shuswap is a highly attractive vacation destination along the north shore of Shuswap Lake. As such, it has come to be a place where there are more dwellings than residents. This leads to a scenario where the movement of housing in and out of the stock of temporary or non-permanent accommodation is the dominant motion in the housing market. Furthermore, the highly seasonal nature of the North Shuswap economy presents challenges for local employers, renters as well as would-be residents.

The Consultants have found that residents face difficulties with affordability of the existing dwelling stock due to the cost of real estate and of rents. As well, the consultants have found that Area F is running against the limitations of the single-family dwell-

ing as a form, with its extensive land costs. Serviced land is in scarce supply in the region, leading to limited availability of development lots less than one hectare, and rental accommodation is scarce. For this, we propose a number of policies and best practices that may ameliorate the situation.”

Dawe said that within the CSRD, Area F saw the most stupendous growth but did not see a housing increase, which is curious. There are more dwellings than residents in Area F, he added.

“Only limited parts of the North Shuswap have zoning for much more than single family dwellings. While this form has historically been sufficient for the needs of rural and small-town areas like the North Shuswap, with rising land values and increasing demand this may no longer be the case.

Alternative housing formats, if they can be more widely applied, can help relieve the cost pressure inherent in single family homes by economizing on land. This includes homes built on top of other homes (such as apartments) or homes that simply touch one another instead of being separated by large setbacks or extensive property minimums (such as townhomes).”

“A lack of available rental stock will tend to push upward pressure on rents. This will in turn push residents out of the bottom of the housing market, as the most vulnerable or least well-resourced members of the community find themselves unable to pay new market rents if they are required to move, which contributes both to departure from the area and local homelessness.”

The report lists various strategies available to the CSRD

including encourage greater uptake of secondary suites and carriage houses, expand provision of servicing directly to increase supply of potential housing and encourage more housing diversity.

Now that housing assessments have been completed in all electoral areas, Gerald Christie, CSRD Manager Development Services told the Board he is planning an affordable housing workshop for Area Directors, possibly in late May.

The full report is available on the CSRD website, www. csrd.bc.ca in the March 17 agenda.