Comments on Salmon Arm's affordable housing blog: Expectations for affordable housing

Good words.

2008-11-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Good words.

I am aswell from the College here in town and I am...

2007-12-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

I am aswell from the College here in town and I am writing an atricle on the lack of sutdent housing. I am looking forward to hearing ways to solve S.A's affordable housing problem, but i do have one question. Is it just houses that are being talked about being built or appartment buildings as well? and what is an affordable cost?

Lawrence

2007-07-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Lawrence

Hello my name is Lawrence Reid, I attended the Oka...

2007-07-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello my name is Lawrence Reid, I attended the Okanagan College as a GIS student in Jan to June of this year. I found it very hard to find affordable housing while I was there. There are also very few places to rent and the places that are available are very high in rent. Higher than in Vancouver by comparison of what you are been offered to pay for. There is a huge demand for affordable student housing in Salmon Arm, with talk of expanding the college it is only logical to develop student housing if they want people to move there to attend the college.

Peace
Lawrence Reid
Former GIS Student

In today's hot real estate market finding affordab...

2007-07-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

In today's hot real estate market finding affordable housing through traditional methods are failing thus this project has been started. Building new affordablle homes will require innovative solutions, reduction of overall development costs, and to eliminate or reduce the profit for affordable housing projects.

Lawrenanne the method you speak of for increasing affordability has been implemented in other smaller communities (similar to the size of Salmon Arm) as well as the larger cities. It is a relatively simple policy that local governments can implement to effectively increase the affordable housing supply. Take a look at the new thread of different options municipalities can implement to create affordable housing.

One method of increasing the availability of affor...

2007-07-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

One method of increasing the availability of affordable housing that has been used in larger cities is to require every developer/owner of multi-family housing to dedicate a percentage of that housing to lower income owners or renters. This helps eliminate the stigma of living in "low cost housing" along with the negative trends (crime etc) of such areas. I don't know the exact mechanism by which this works but would assume it wouldn't take much research to dig it out.

BTW, kudos on putting this blog together; saw an article on the "students investigating the housing issue" and am happy to see that you are so open to public comment!

Current home building in Salmon Arm (and Okanagan)...

2007-07-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

Current home building in Salmon Arm (and Okanagan) is being tailored to unrealistic Real Estate prices. What is required is home building to reflect the needs of the public good.
We must enlist the help of both Federal and Provincial Governments: in both land procurement, infrastructure costs and financial packages. Eliminate the excessive costs and profits of private developers.
Consider use of crown lands, also use of marginal land within the ALR with federal and provincial departments in direct negotiation with land owners--no realtor or developer.
The proposed housing must be isloated from the current Real Estate market-driven phenomenon (supply and demand) which can be skewed and manipulated by the Real Estate industry to the detriment of the public good.

Housing has been indentified as one of the 'major ...

2007-06-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Housing has been indentified as one of the 'major cogs' in current economic drivers, and is greatly affecting the other economic activities, e.g. land useage, business attraction and retention. Inventory of housing under $300,000 is extremely low and rental availability is scarce. There is a critical need for affordable housing and/ or affordable mechanisms for first time home buyers - this is reflective of the BC housing trend.

This situation has a rippling affect on labour, development, industry, college student residence therefore the College, retention of young professionals, attraction of business and individuals to our community, and children growing and staying in our community.

On behalf of the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society, a not-for-profit, I look forward to hearing views from all community members on this important topic.