Dear Editor:
Summerland’s planners, mayor and council are rightly concerned about the scarcity of affordable long-term rental housing. It’s a complex social issue that affects all residents and requires community input to resolve.
Jane Jacobs transformed urban planning with criticism, proposed innovative collaborations and famously wrote, “We expect too much of new buildings, and too little of ourselves.”
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It’s expected that community members will magically find affordable housing if district zoning permits two-lot subdivisions and carriage houses on single-family lots in established residential neighbourhoods. To accomplish that, property owners who can afford to build will need to include affordable rentals in their builds. How likely is that?
Let’s not be naive about the benefits of the currently-proposed densification. Those who benefit are able to own property, add secondary suites, subdivide and/or build carriage houses, not the people who can’t afford to own a home or who may have other reasons to rent. A possible exception is the larger build intended to house a multi-generational family.
I find it disturbingly short-sighted that our elected officials have focused on encouraging resident property owners to commodify their homes and even more disturbing that investors from anywhere have the same privileges. What will Summerland be in 10 years if a large percentage of property owners take advantage of hodgepodge, shoehorn zoning?
I recognize that the district can’t solve the long-term rental housing crisis. Its purpose is to provide zoning to entice developers to build. Nor will our housing crisis be solved by individuals who build a carriage house. It’s time for our elected officials to forgo fingers-crossed, trickle-down thinking and forge long-term, realistic solutions.
The province recently proposed that large houses containing three units should be considered and encouraged on single-family lots. Let’s see that happen in Summerland. Let’s also see concessions made to encourage collaborations between non-profits and builders of market, below-market, social and co-op housing. Give developers options to allow investment recovery, revenue stream and to create housing for resident renters.
Pati Hill
Summerland
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