The Village at Okanagan Landing is an example of an affordable housing project spearheaded by a non-profit group that got a low cost ($1 a year) lease from the City of Vernon for the land. It opened in April of this year. (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Purchasing Land For Non-Profits

Vernon seeking federal funds for affordable housing

Aug 17, 2023 | 5:00 AM

The City of Vernon is applying for a grant to be used to boost local affordable housing.

Vernon is applying for the Housing Accelerator Fund Grant which, if successful, will be used to purchase land that can then be leased to non-profits who will build and operate affordable housing projects, and to make investments in housing related infrastructure.

The Housing Accelerator Fund is a three year program, running from September 2023 to September 2026. A total of $4-billion is available through the program and the City of Vernon hopes to acquire $9.5-million for its activities.

The fund, administered through the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has several requirements for the applicant to meet, and at the regular meeting Monday, August 14, Vernon city council was provided an update on the process.

Local governments must have a Housing Action Plan, which Vernon does have, though the local municipality did not have “supply growth targets and specific initiatives to grow housing supply and speed up housing approvals” as well as “additional incented units” needed for the application.

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At Monday’s meeting, Vernon’s long range planner, Barbara Everdene, presented council with those targets.

Over the next three years, the city would create a Smart City/E-Referral program, increase diversity and affordability for market housing, and acquire land for affordable and attainable housing. In all, these initiatives would lead to the creation of 296 additional incented units, which would be offered at below-market rate, over three years.

Those incented units would be on top of regular permitted units, which Vernon has a target of 1,477 over the three year period.

“Administration feels [the target units are] achievable. It’s also aggressive and it’s totally consistent with Vernon’s leadership position as a strong proponent of subsidized, affordable housing,” Everdene told council.

She added Vernon falls under the “large urban stream” in the Canada-wide program, and that the targets set for the next three years are aggressive but also feasible, which will “maximize the score” when being evaluated by the CMHC.

Everdene added B.C. Housing is about to put a call out for its Community Housing Fund, and that could be accessed to assist with the construction costs for any projects built on lands obtained using the Housing Accelerator Fund.

Council voted in support of endorsing the application for the fund, in addition to conducting an updated housing needs assessment no later than June 2025, and if successful in their bid, using the Housing Accelerator Fund money to meet the housing supply targets.

With the go ahead from council, the application can now be submitted ahead of the deadline of Friday, August 18.

Speaking with Vernon Matters following Monday’s meeting, Mayor Victor Cumming said the targets are not unreasonable.

“We have the non-profit and the developers in our community. With some incentives, we’ll move into that gap,” Cumming stated.

“The market’s obvious, less than one per cent vacancy. I have no concerns about our not-for-profits ability to grab that and move it along.”

He added this is a great opportunity to provide land for non-profits, noting they have done this before and been able to lease land for $1 a year so organizations can build and manage affordable housing projects.