Affordable housing in Gibsons: what can we expect in 2020?

Town wants to increase the contribution for affordable housing from large developments, Mayor Bill Beamish supports pads for tiny homes

(By News Desk)

Hundreds of households in Gibsons spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, and some spend 50 per cent. The Coast Clarion has spoken with people who pay as much as 75 per cent, but despite the clear need for affordable housing, only one project will open its doors this year. 

BC Housing is planning to have the 40-unit supportive housing project on School Road completed and occupied in the first half of this year. “Some tenants will have medical or addiction issues, but not all,” Mayor Bill Beamish said. “The residents are required to pay rent. I understand  that in [the supportive housing project in] Sechelt, some residents are seniors who do not have any other housing options available to them.”

The town has approved 73 units for the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society (SCAHS): 70 on Shaw Road and three on Harmony Lane/Franklin Road, which will become available in the next few years. They will be a mix of market rentals, below-market rentals and affordable housing to make the projects financially viable. The mix is yet undetermined. The SCAHS did not return calls.

Ten per cent of the housing units on Gospel Rock are required to be affordable rentals; 25 units in the first phase, expected to be completed in two or three years, and another 11 in the following phase. The owners will administer a program whereby people can apply for housing in the project and pay no more than 30 per cent of their income, Beamish told The Coast Clarion. 

The previous council had looked at three road-end locations — Beach Avenue/Glen Road, Bals Lane/Seaview Road, and Glassford Road/Gower Point Road — as possible sites for affordable housing projects. 

The current council hasn’t made up its mind about these locations, Beamish said. “They could come up early this year. We’re certainly aware of them. But I don’t want to move too far ahead of the capacity of the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society to build affordable housing, they’d get too much on their plate. 

“I’d be more inclined to look at possible opportunities to sell those parcels and put the money into affordable housing, but we haven’t talked about it yet.” 

The former Irwin motel, which is privately owned, has been renovated by the owner to provide affordable housing. It is currently for sale. The town is also allowing people to stay on a private lot at North Road, next to Hillcrest, as a trailer park.

“If private individuals want to help out, my concern is not to interfere with those efforts as long as people are living in safe conditions,” the mayor said. That’s our concern as a municipality: it has to be safe and suitable. We’re certainly willing to be part of the solution.”

He strongly supports the idea of pads with septic fields and water so people can park tiny homes. “Look at the RV Resort on Gilmour Road, off Cemetery Road; that’s essentially what that is. I was amazed at the number of units that are there now, compared to a year ago. There’s a huge number of units there.”

Gibsons has no Crown land, although the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) does. “It’s a challenge,” Beamish said. “There is nothing for affordable housing in the SCRD. They don’t have that as a program. There is no affordable-housing reserve, nothing. Yet more than 50 per cent of the population of the Coast lives in the SCRD. 

“They have lots of Crown land which can be easily used by BC Housing for affordable housing. I raised this when I was on the [SCRD] board last year. Everybody was in favour of finding solutions. But normally speaking, the government is not the solution finder, they are the responder. 

“Even in Gibsons, we don’t have a program for affordable housing. If an organization like the Affordable Housing Society comes forward, we will work with them; we’re not in the housing business ourselves. Somebody has to come forward with a proposal,” the mayor said.

The Good Samaritan Society which owns Christensen Village is considering using the remainder of the Shaw Road property for seniors housing. The town hopes to hear from them this year, the mayor said.

In November, the town approved a contract to undertake a Coast-wide housing-needs assessment, which has started. This project is funded by a provincial grant and is for the whole of the Sunshine Coast. The town has also met several times with the Workforce Housing Committee in an effort to ensure that workers can afford to live on the Coast and support the economy. 

The town does not have a lot of money left for affordable housing projects. On December 3, 2019, a representative from New Commons Development (which is working with the SCAHS on the affordable housing project on Shaw Road) asked council for a $400,000 contribution toward the cost of building the first phase of 40 units. If approved by council, the $400,000 would almost deplete the town’s affordable housing reserve fund: only $28,000 would be left. 

Between 2016 and 2020, the town dedicated $103,800 to the SCAHS for the two affordable housing projects on Shaw Road and Harmony Lane/Franklin Road.

At the beginning of 2019, the town’s affordable housing fund had a balance of $585,862. With the contributions to the SCAHS and an additional $10,000 for affordable-housing project support and $47,500 for affordable-housing strategy & policy development, there is $428,362 left.

“It would deplete the fund, yes,” the mayor said. “But we have to ask ourselves: what’s the fund for? It is unfair to take money from developers for affordable housing and not use it for that purpose. I don’t see anything else on the horizon, they are the only affordable housing society right now, and I haven’t seen anything else come forward.”

Council wants to review the contribution agreements with developers. “We want to make sure we catch a better percentage, a higher amount. That’s something we’d like to do this year for sure,” he said. Staff have prepared a workshop for council in February to begin that process.

During the term of the previous council, developers made small contributions to the affordable-housing fund. Parkland paid $93,758 in December 2015, and $60,000 in October 2017. Soames Place made no contribution. Eagleview Heights paid $270,000, and Gospel Rock pledged to build 36 affordable units. The developer of The George paid $156,648 in October, 2015. 

In 2007, the town passed an affordable-housing policy requiring developers to provide at least 10 per cent affordable units for sale or rent, or contribute an equivalent amount to the town’s affordable-housing fund as part of any new rezoning for a project of 10 or more units. 

When it came to calculating the amount, the town agreed to cash contributions on a case-by-case basis. The basis for the calculations was an analysis of the difference between market price and construction cost of the affordable units so a developer could recover the cost of an affordable ownership unit, a staff report said.