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Housing task force wants to measure results

The municipality’s non-cost housing initiative task force wants some proof their recommendations to council on resident housing opportunities are not in vain.

The municipality’s non-cost housing initiative task force wants some proof their recommendations to council on resident housing opportunities are not in vain.

They want to find a way of quantifying the number of future suites created or retained as a result of the recommendations they have been reviewing.

This would allow them to see if the recommendations had any effect in stopping the depletion of the resident housing stock in Whistler or not.

Task force member Shannon Byrne said it was a cop out to say that putting a measurable goal on the initiatives is too challenging.

"With any plan you have to make certain assumptions and you have to identify the opportunities and threats around the assumptions you’re making," she said at the Feb. 7 meeting, the third of four meetings to flesh out a list of non-cost housing initiatives developed by municipal staff and the Whistler Housing Authority.

The group proposed a goal of trying to increase suite construction to the 1998 level, when 47 suites were created. For the past three years that number has dropped to less than 20 annually, a dramatic downturn from the 75 suites per year that was the norm 10 years ago.

Still, speaking from his experience as the general manager of the Whistler Housing Authority, Tim Wake said it’s very hard to accurately crunch these kinds of numbers.

"The challenge of putting numbers around this is a huge one," said Wake.

"We can set an arbitrary number but it is going to be arbitrary."

For the past month the task force has been meeting once a week to exchange ideas about a series of non-cost initiatives intended to encourage the creation of more resident housing and to discourage the "leakage" or loss of affordable resident housing. They have also been coming up with some ideas of their own. They will be presenting their recommendations to council at the Monday, Feb. 17 meeting.

Among the suggestions debated at the last meeting was allowing the stratification of suites to keep some of the existing workforce homeowners in the community.

Stratification would allow homeowners to sell off a large portion of their homes at market value but keep a smaller portion of the house as a restricted suite.

In effect, this would allow locals to "cash out" and create capital from the sale of their home at the same time as providing them a place to stay in the community.

Chris Quinlan was a big proponent of this idea.

"It is immediate," he said.

"It is extremely non-cost to us as a municipality."

Stratification of suites would also give locals the opportunity to buy what they’ve been renting over the years, giving them more incentive to stay in Whistler.

While the recommendation seems effective in principle, the details have yet to be worked out with the municipal lawyers to see if it is actually feasible.

Stratification is currently allowed in new residential developments but may be more difficult to approve in existing homes. The task force has recommended that they are in support of this idea and municipal staff should look into it further.

Another initiative, which is supported by the 11-member group and is currently being reviewed by staff, is the idea of increasing the Employee Works and Services Charges.

Jennifer Beresford, manager of strategic planning at the RMOW, gave a brief presentation to the task force about her work on the Works and Services Charges. She said staff is currently taking a very high-level perspective on the changes to the charges before presenting an amendment proposal to the provincial government.

Currently a charge of just under $6,000 is levied on any commercial or industrial development. The municipality uses a formula to calculate how many employees a commercial or industrial development would generate and presents the charge to the developer accordingly. The money generated from the charge goes into the employee housing fund.

Former mayor Drew Meredith said the charge was an arbitrary number invented by the RMOW. When a handful of developers didn’t balk at the added cost to their developments, the municipality proceeded with making the charges legal through the provincial government.

The charges generated a huge amount for the employee housing fund over the years when development in Whistler boomed.

But as development has slowed, due to the approaching buildout, so has the money coming into the fund. Last year only $120,000 was collected.

The task force agreed that despite the fact that development has slowed, the charge should still reflect the current cost of construction and value of land.

"We’re not looking at a rebuild of the housing fund," said Councillor Kristi Wells, who is chair of the task force.

The group also suggested that staff investigate the potential of levying the charge on residential properties, in additional to commercial and industrial.

"We have to make sure at the end of the day (the charges) don’t compromise some other level of affordability within the community," said Beresford, who is hoping to present a case for the increased charge to the provincial government by the summertime.

The group agreed to support the work currently underway by municipal staff.

"By endorsing it, it brings it to a whole other priority from council’s point of view," said Wells.

The task force will bring a host of recommendations before council at the next meeting.

Other ideas include a marketing campaign to encourage people to offer their suites for rent, allowing auxiliary suites in detached garages or cottages as well as requiring all new lots in new subdivisions to include restricted suites.

At the close of Friday’s meeting Meredith said: "I think this group should say that all single family homes should have suites period.

"If they were all required then we would all be one big happy family."