Deep Dive: Expanding Housing Options
Point Form Summary
- Vernon needs more homes, but we also need the right mix: rentals, attainable ownership, family-sized and accessible homes, co-operative and non-market housing, and homes where people can age in place.
- Most new housing should be built within the developed part of the city, where we can make better use of existing roads, pipes, services and public investment.
- Straightforward projects should be easier to build through clear rules, early coordination between City departments and timely decisions.
- City incentives should be tied to a clear benefit, such as secured rental housing, below-market rents, accessible homes or family-sized units.
- Vernon should use suitable City-owned land to pursue specific housing goals and invite qualified non-profit, co-operative or Indigenous housing providers to propose projects.
- Renters displaced by redevelopment should receive practical help, which could include relocation planning, moving assistance and an opportunity to return.
- Housing growth must be matched with water, sewer, roads, transit, parks and other services. Development should pay its fair share of the costs caused by growth.
- Vernon should continue reporting on completed homes and use the Housing Needs Report to assess whether a reasonable mix of housing is being built.
- My goal is a Vernon where more people can find a suitable home they can afford and they can remain part of the community through the different stages of their lives.
Housing is about much more than providing a roof and four walls. Homes give us stability, connect us to our neighbours and make it possible to build a life in a community.
Yet too many people in Vernon are struggling to find a home that fits their needs and their budget. Young adults wonder whether they’ll ever be able to buy here. Families have trouble finding enough space at a price they can manage. Renters face limited choices and uncertainty. Some seniors remain in homes that no longer work well for them because there’s nowhere suitable to move.
Housing also affects the wider health of our community. Employers have difficulty recruiting and keeping workers when those workers can’t find a place to live. A lack of affordable housing increases the risk of homelessness. When people have to leave Vernon, we lose neighbours, volunteers, customers and members of our workforce.
There’s no single project or policy that will solve this. We need to steadily expand the range of homes available while making sure growth is well planned and financially responsible.
What does Vernon need?
Vernon’s 2024 Housing Needs Report estimates that the city will need about 5,900 additional homes between 2021 and 2031.
In 2021, about 4,340 Vernon households – 22 per cent of all households – were spending more than they could reasonably afford on housing. The pressure was especially high for renters: 38 per cent were spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.
Our needs are changing too. Households are becoming smaller, our population is aging and many families can’t afford a traditional detached house. The report estimates that about 85 per cent of the homes needed by 2031 will have one or two bedrooms. At the same time, families still need homes with enough bedrooms, storage and access to outdoor space.
That means we need more:
- purpose-built rentals;
- townhouses, row houses, duplexes and multiplexes;
- family-sized homes;
- accessible and adaptable homes;
- co-operative and other alternative forms of housing;
- affordable and non-market housing;
- and supportive housing for people who need help to remain safely housed.
Not every type of housing will work on every property. But across the city, people should have more choices than either a detached house or an apartment in a large building.
Building homes in the right places
Expanding housing and growing wisely are closely connected.
Vernon’s new Official Community Plan outlines appropriate spaces for the housing we expect to need over the next 20 years. Most of that growth can take place within the developed part of the city -downtown, in neighbourhood centres, along major routes and in thoughtfully designed additions to existing neighbourhoods.
This allows us to make better use of roads, pipes, parks and other services we’ve already paid for. It can put more people close to shops, schools and services, support better walking, cycling and transit, strengthen our downtown and help protect farmland and natural areas.
The City can help by making sure zoning reflects the goals of the OCP, allowing a wider range of homes in suitable locations, and completing the OCP’s proposed pre-approved designs for some small infill projects.
Change still needs to be handled carefully. New development should account for trees, outdoor space, traffic, water supply, emergency access and how a building fits into its surroundings. But healthy neighbourhoods change over time. Welcoming some additional homes doesn’t have to mean losing what people value about where they live.
Making the process clearer
The City doesn’t build housing, but its decisions affect whether good projects move forward.
The OCP already calls for several practical improvements:
- an early meeting where planning, engineering, fire and other departments identify major requirements;
- expanded online applications and permit tracking;
- simpler and more consistent rules;
- and faster approval paths for some small-scale housing.
Council should set timelines for this work and receive regular reports showing how long different kinds of applications take and where delays are occurring.
Projects that fit the OCP and zoning should normally move through a straightforward process. Only proposals that require major changes, create significant costs for the public, or move development into areas not planned for growth deserve close examination.
Faster shouldn’t mean careless. It should mean that expectations are clear, necessary questions are asked early and decisions aren’t delayed without a good reason.
Using incentives for a clear purpose
Vernon currently offers eligible purpose-built rental projects a grant of up to $4,000 per unit or the value of the City’s development cost charges, whichever is lower. City development charges may also be waived for qualifying low-income housing operated by a government or non-profit organization.
These incentives should be reviewed to determine whether they’re creating homes that wouldn’t otherwise be built. Where the City reduces fees, parking requirements or other costs, the public should receive something clear in return, such as:
- long-term rental housing;
- homes rented below market;
- accessible or adaptable homes;
- three-bedroom homes for families;
- or non-profit, co-operative or supportive housing.
Those commitments should be protected through a housing agreement or another binding condition. An incentive that doesn’t change whether a project can proceed or doesn’t produce a lasting public benefit isn’t a good use of public money.
Making better use of City-owned land
The City already knows what land it owns. The next step, as called for in the OCP, is to identify which vacant or underused sites could realistically support affordable, attainable or special-needs housing.
For promising sites, the City should determine:
- what kind of housing the property could support;
- whether water, sewer and other services are available;
- whether the land is needed for another public purpose;
- and what it would cost to make the site ready for development.
Council could then choose a specific goal for a suitable property—for example, family co-operative housing, accessible seniors’ housing or below-market rentals—and invite qualified non-profit, co-operative or Indigenous housing providers to submit proposals.
The selected organization could work with the City to develop a plan and apply for provincial or federal funding. The land could be offered through a long-term lease rather than sold, allowing the public to retain ownership while reducing the cost of the housing.
Other B.C. communities have used this approach. Surrey identified a City-owned site for Indigenous affordable housing and selected a provider in time to apply to BC Housing’s Indigenous Housing Fund. Vancouver regularly uses competitive processes to match public land with non-profit or co-operative housing partners. North Vancouver’s contribution of land helped attract a $24.5-million provincial investment through BC Builds.
Municipal collaboration won’t guarantee funding, especially in this fiscal situation, but it does make a proposal stronger. A project with an available site, a qualified partner, preliminary approvals and a City contribution is more likely to be ready when provincial or federal funding becomes available.
Any agreement should set out the number and type of homes, who they are intended to serve, how affordability will be measured, how long it will last and when construction must begin.
Supporting renters and protecting existing homes
Purpose-built rental housing offers greater long-term security to renters than a condo, house or suite that an owner may eventually re-occupy. Vernon should continue encouraging purpose-built rentals and protecting larger rental buildings from conversion when vacancy rates are low.
We also need to consider what happens when existing rental housing is redeveloped. Older apartments and mobile-home parks often provide some of the city’s more affordable homes. A redevelopment may add housing overall while still creating a serious hardship for the people already living there.
The OCP calls for improved assistance for displaced tenants. That should lead to a clear tenant-relocation policy or bylaw. For redevelopment involving occupied rental buildings, requirements could include:
- early notice and regular communication;
- a relocation plan;
- help finding another suitable home;
- payment of reasonable moving costs;
- additional assistance for seniors, people with disabilities and others facing greater barriers;
- and the first opportunity to rent a suitable home in the new building.
Council should also decide when demolished rental homes must be replaced and whether some should remain below market.
Kelowna, Nanaimo, Vancouver and Burnaby all provide versions of these protections. Vernon doesn’t need to copy any one of them, but we can learn from their experience and create an approach that fits our housing market.
The requirements need to offer meaningful help without making worthwhile redevelopment impossible. The City should report how many rental homes are lost, how many tenants are displaced and what assistance they receive.
Housing that works throughout our lives
A young adult may begin in a rented suite, later purchase a townhouse and eventually need room for a family. Someone whose children have left home may want a smaller place with less maintenance. A senior may need an accessible, single-level home close to shops, transit and health care.
When those choices aren’t available, people remain in homes that no longer suit them because they have nowhere else to go.
To provide more options, Vernon could set targets for three-bedroom and adaptable homes in larger developments, and offer incentives to projects that include more of these homes. The City can also continue allowing secondary suites and small backyard homes, and support co-housing and other designs that combine private homes with shared space.
Matching housing with infrastructure
Housing can’t be considered separately from water, sewer, roads, transit, parks and emergency services.
The City should map planned housing growth against infrastructure capacity so we know:
- where more homes can be supported with existing services;
- where upgrades are already planned;
- where development can help pay for an upgrade;
- and where growth should wait until important problems are resolved.
Development cost charges should be reviewed regularly so new growth pays its fair share. For major developments, Council should also understand the long-term cost of maintaining new infrastructure. A project that produces construction activity but leaves taxpayers with a continuing financial shortfall isn’t responsible growth.
Adding homes where roads, pipes and services already exist will generally cost less over time than extending infrastructure into undeveloped areas. That is one reason expanding housing and growing wisely belong together.
Knowing whether we’re making progress
The Province has given Vernon a five-year target of 1,849 net new homes. In the first six months, Vernon reported 258 net new homes, including 197 rental units. That’s encouraging, but the total number tells only part of the story.
Vernon already tracks homes that receive occupancy permits. That information should be brought together in an understandable annual housing report showing:
- how many homes were completed;
- the number of bedrooms and whether they are rental or ownership homes;
- how many are accessible, below market, co-operative or supportive;
- rental vacancy rates and changes in rents;
- how many existing rental homes were lost;
- how many tenants were displaced through redevelopment;
- application processing times;
- and how closely new construction matches the Housing Needs Report.
No single number will tell us whether we’re succeeding. Meeting the provincial target matters, but we also need to know whether the homes being built work for renters, families, seniors, workers and people with lower incomes.
My approach
I want Vernon to build more and a greater variety of housing within the developed part of the city.
That means making straightforward projects easier to build and following through on the housing actions already included in the OCP. It means tying incentives to clear public benefits, using suitable City-owned land to build funding-ready partnerships and providing practical help to renters displaced by redevelopment.
It also means planning housing together with water, roads, transit, parks and other services, and making sure development pays its fair share of the costs created by growth.
We won’t solve the housing shortage overnight. But with clear plans, practical action and steady follow-through, we can build a city where more people can find a home that fits their lives, so they can continue to call Vernon home for decades to come.