Mobile homes may soon be allowed at smaller properties in South Okanagan
More homeowners in the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen may soon be allowed to use mobile homes as accessory dwelling units.
After agreeing with the staff recommendation to go to public hearing, the board will be exploring the idea of allowing it on properties greater than one hectare in size.
Chris Garrish, manager of planning with the RDOS, said current regulations require properties to be at least four hectares.
READ MORE: Accessory dwellings get another look in tight housing market
The board has already made exceptions for properties with less than four hectares, and Garrish said the regional district is aware of other homeowners with similar intentions.
“So rather than have each persons go through a rezoning process, this would remove a regulatory burden and allow for us to issue building permits for them on parcels greater than one hectare,” he said.
The public hearing will be scheduled before the next regular meeting on Aug. 17.
Allowing mobile homes as dwellings on rural land has long been an issue to the north and likely a growing issue as the housing crisis deepens.
In the Thompson Nicola Regional District, pipeline workers are allowed to live in RVs but residents are restricted from doing so. Those standards were called into question earlier in 2023 by the Rural Rights Association of B.C.
The association was also vocal about the issue in 2020, accusing the TNRD of "criminalizing poverty."
The association formed in 2019 after connecting through a Facebook group called Thompson Nicola RV Rights.
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