Municipal policy options to promote affordable housing

There are many different ways in which Municipalities in British Columbia can promote affordable housing through their policy choices. I will list the options in no particular order because each option's effectiveness depends on the settings on which it is implemented on. Please feel free to comment on which policy option or number of policies Salmon Arm should implement.


1.Define Attainable Housing:

Attainable housing is defined as providing housing for the core housing need.
Households are in the core housing need if they cannot find a place to live that is in reasonably good condition and big enough for their household without spending more than 30% of their gross income. One appropriate benchmark for affordability would be to use 30% of the median household income, $38,956 (using census 2001 data), therefore housing costs should not exceed $975 dollars per month.

2.Affordable housing policy:

The city collaborates with developers to establish a minimum percentage (for ex.10 to 25% ) of units to be provided in a residential development that are attainable to households defined by the policy in recommendation #1 or another type of attainable policy. For example the Municipality of Langford, approx 22,000 people, is addressing the challenge of affordable housing by offering new houses to qualified residents for $150,000., compared to market value of about $290,000.
Langford allows builders to increase the density in return for building affordable homes. Under its new policy every rezoning of 10 or more single-family residential lots has to have a ‘small lot/small house affordable lot’ measuring approximately 300 square meters. Developers are then required to build one affordable housing unit (approx 83-91 square meters). The finished house is then offered to buyers selected by the Langford Affordable Housing Committee.
Unlike subsidized housing, which simply augments rent for low-income applicants, these houses are registered and owned by the residents. A housing agreement is registered on the title of each house that restricts the resale of the houses until after 25 years, when the house can be sold at market value.

3.Secondary Suite Amendments:

Amend secondary suite regulations to increase the maximum size of 645 sq/ft to include a one or two bedroom unit and to remove the owner occupancy requirements.

4.Small Lot Subdivisions:

Allow small lot zoning to create more affordable housing ownership opportunities. Allow a minimum lot size of 260 m^2 and a minimum width of 10m.

5.Reduce/waive Development Cost Charges (DCC):

Local governments are allow to reduce/waive DCCs however our local government would have to amend the bylaw to allow a non-profit housing society to develop affordable and attainable housing to do this. Every cost of a new development gets passed on to the home buyer therefore if we reduce the DCCs then our affordable housing projects will be more attainable to more people.

6.Priority processing attainable housing developments:

Decreasing the length of approval times reduces the cost of residential development and therefore, reduces housing costs. This policy is very effective in municipalities that have a slow approval process or a large backlog however Salmon Arm relatively is fast at its approval process.

7.Permissive Property Tax Exemption Policy:

Council may choose to grant property tax exemption to non-profit organizations. The amount of the exemption can be 100% of municipal share of the property tax due annually up to a maximum of 10 years. The exemption can be available to projects that include a pre determined percentage of attainable housing units (10%-25%). A developer who provides attainable/ afforadable units must enter into a housing agreement with the city to qualify for the tax exemption. The housing agreement will set out the maximum rents/prices that can be charged over the duration of the tax exemption.