Tenants for Franklin Road project selected, can move in on May 1, rent is 30-35 per cent of gross income
(By News Desk)
The first two units of affordable housing in Gibsons at 744 and 746 Franklin Road have been completed. Tenants have been selected and can move in on May 1.
The house has a three-bedroom unit downstairs and a one-bedroom upstairs, both with rents below market rate. The detached laneway house with two bedrooms has a market rate rent to help subsidize the other two units.
The tenants will be paying 30 to 35 per cent of their gross income. For privacy reasons, the rents are not disclosed.
The Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society (SCAHS) operates the project. The units will be managed by Holywell Properties.
This was the SCAHS’s first affordable housing project. “It was a long, arduous haul, but we made it,” SCAHS chair Mike Alsop told The Coast Clarion. “We couldn’t have done it without the Town, BC Housing and the SCAHS volunteers.
“Support from the community has been amazing. We have had so many donations and support from individuals and groups. They have gone over and beyond. It was brilliant. There is a huge amount of gratitude,” Alsop said.
Members of the community raised more than $25,000 in a GoFundMe campaign. Contractor Dave Longman, Mobius Architecture, Tapworks, the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation, the Sunshine Coast Credit Union, Urban Matters, Andrena Gray, realtors Krista Dempster and Melissa Grant, Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, New Commons development, Rain Farmers, Stride Recruitment, Sunco Civil Consulting Ltd. and many others came together to make the project possible.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation CMHC) provided mortgages for $305,000 and $579,982, BC Housing provided grants and the Town of Gibsons contributed a 60-year land lease. The value of the land is assessed at $530,000. The Town did not waive charge and fees or property taxes.
The cost of the project was about $1.14 million, Alsop said.
Together with the land, that would be $1,670,000. For a total square footage of 2,184 for the three units, the price per square foot was $764.
According to construction sources the price per square foot at the time of construction of the project was $400-$500.
Why did it cost more? “I’m not willing to comment on that,” Alsop said. “This is a project we can sustain over a long period of time, people can move in, and it’s affordable. At the end of the day, that’s what everybody wanted. We’re delighted.”
BC Housing had allocated $1.5 million for the Franklin Road project. At $1.14, it came in well under budget. The difference did not go to the SCAHS.
“I am happy we got this project [on Franklin Road] done,” Alsop said. “We’re looking forward to more.”
The next SCAHS affordable housing project is 70 units on town property at 571 Shaw Road. BC Housing and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) declined funding for it at the end of last year.
On February 2, 2021, the Society wrote in a report to Town Council:
“The Shaw Road project will not go ahead in the immediate future. The SCAHS Board has decided that the best way forward is to take time to refocus on strengthening the Society infrastructure, including building a solid business plan that prepares the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society to meet the challenges of the affordable housing needs in our communities.”
The SCAHS and New Commons Development, which partners with non-profit organizations and the public sector to develop affordable housing, have made new applications for loans and grants worth about $8.3 million and an operating subsidy through BC Housing’s Community Housing Fund.
“I am absolutely sure we will get the money,” Alsop told The Coast Clarion. “You can be sure that the minute we hear about it, the news will be on our website. It was not our fault we got rejected last year.”
He expects to hear from BC Housing in May. Construction will take at least 18 months. Zoning and Official Community Plan bylaws for the project are in place.
Alsop could not say how many of the 40 units in the first phase of the project will be affordable housing.
Incorporated in October 2015, the SCAHS is a group of local residents with experience and interest in housing. It aims to develop new housing units and act as a Community Land Trust. All members are volunteers but with a $50,000 grant from the Town of Gibsons, the Society was able to hire an administrator.