Kamloops councillor hits back at the province to get more housing
A Kamloops city councillor is throwing the province's threats to install someone to push forward more housing in the city right back.
Councillor Nancy Bepple says if the province is so concerned about housing, it should put up its own land and buildings to kick things off.
“You have to look at it as, there’s a good news story here,” Bepple told iNFOnews.ca. “One of the things they’re going to do is look at provincial land. An excellent example is at Sixth and Columbia in Kamloops. It’s a huge parcel. It used to be Ministry of Transportation and it’s been derelict for years.”
The government has two properties at that corner, 523 Columbia St. and 561 Columbia St. totalling about eight acres, according to BC Assessment.
Last year, the city suggested that a building on it be used for an emergency shelter but BC Housing declined, saying it would be too expensive to renovate.
Now, Bepple argued, it would be an ideal site for housing.
“It’s owned by the provincial government,” she said. “It’s in the centre of the city. It’s unused. It’s derelict. It would be a fantastic place for housing. Part of the Housing for People plan specifies that the province will be freeing up provincial lands so, being on that list is good news in that we can put, front and centre, our strong desire to have that property in the centre of the city developed for housing.”
READ MORE: Kamloops city councillor pushing back against BC housing land use control
The "list" she refers to is the so-called 'naughty' list of BC cities the province says is too far behind in approving new housing amid the province's housing crisis. It named 10 cities on its list and gave them six months to set housing targets and show how they’re going to meet them or have someone parachuted in to help them do it.
Bepple led Kamloops council in telling the provincial government through a letter to back off and not tell her city how to zone its land.
READ MORE: Kamloops needs to tow the provincial housing line or go on its 'naughty' list
The city is already doing what the province wants in terms of making it easier to develop more homes, she argued.
It’s not just the big projects, like the City Gardens project that is now under construction or the recently approved Canary Lofts, that will be needed.
Bepple also pointed to a recent small development of four units in North Kamloops where a single-family house once stood as an example of other types of housing that’s being developed in the city.
“I hope the province will sit down with the city to see what we’ve done already,” she said. “What we’ve seen, in the last few years, is that we’re actually building more units than the population growth so we’re actually catching up with the demand for housing. But we still have to catch up because there is a pent-up demand for housing.”
READ MORE: Reno costs too high to use provincially-owned property for shelter in Kamloops
Between 2017 and 2022 the city’s population grew by 8,883 people but the city issued building permits for 4,501 homes capable of housing 10,352 people, she wrote in her motion to council.
“The province wants more housing for Kamloops,” Bepple said. “The City of Kamloops wants more housing for Kamloops. We’re both on the same page there. Now we have to sit down together and find some solutions.”
The fact that Kamloops was put on the housing target list means that will happen sooner rather than later.
“It’s nice that we’re in line in front of Kelowna,” Bepple said.
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