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Feasibility study underway for new rental housing in Kaslo

On October 13, Kaslo Mayor and Council gave the green light to the Kaslo Housing Society to begin studying the feasibility of creating new dedicated rental apartments in downtown Kaslo. The proposed building, which could potentially provide 8-10 studio and larger apartments, would be located on A Avenue near the corner of 4th Street.
 
The 75 x 100-foot lot behind the Kemball Centre is presently under-utilized as a secure bus parking and storage area for Kaslo Infonet. Working with their development partner, New Commons Development under its Small Communities Initiative, the housing society would begin a period of public consultation, and assess the geotechnical and other site constraints. An architect, Christine Ross from Sanca, has been hired to provide high level concept drawings that can be adapted in response to community input.
 
New Commons Development – Small Communities Initiative is already working with several small communities in the region to assist local housing providers in solving the challenges of developing housing. They bring a much-needed level of expertise and experience to the work ahead for Kaslo: securing project financing, beginning with a strong proposal to BC Housing’s Community Housing Fund. The intake for a proposal is due January 15, 2021.
 
The Kaslo Housing Society, the Village and New Commons developed a solid working relationship earlier this year while evaluating the feasibility of acquiring the Kaslo Bay property, which unfortunately is not going forward. But there was a positive takeaway from that effort. We were able to pivot when the Village-owned land behind the Kemball Centre was suggested as a possible site for long-term rental housing.
 
The site has many advantages that the site near the Public Works yard (the “Lovers Site”), which is currently leased by the housing society, does not. In 2018, a proposal in response to a call by BC Housing, very similar to the January 2021 Request for Proposals, had been submitted by the Housing Society. It was explained to the society that the reason that proposal failed was because the Lovers site had no services – no access, no water line, no electrical/phone service, and of course, no sewer.
 
The A Avenue site has all of these services.
 
Please see the advertisement on the side-bar and the following article ‘Penny Lane Apartments?’ – Public Consultation, Site Investigation And Feasibility Assessment for opportunities to learn more about the project. More opportunities to learn and comment will be offered as the feasibility study unfolds. 
 
The housing society also encourages any resident of Kaslo and RDCK Area D who may be looking for a dedicated rental unit in the next few years, to get their names on a waiting list. The list will be confidential; its purpose at this early stage is to give the society a better understanding of current need. 

‘Penny Lane Apartments?’ – Public Consultation, Site Investigation And Feasibility Assessment

With permission from the Village of Kaslo, the Kaslo Housing Society and their partners New Commons Development, Small Communities Initiative are doing detailed site investigations to determine the feasibility of a rental housing project on fully serviced Village land.

The site to be investigated is on land behind the Kemball Centre building, currently comprised of 3 lots. This land is owned by the Village.

The aim of the project, tentatively called ‘Penny Lane Apartments’, is to provide mixed affordable rental housing that would be safe, secure and affordable for seniors, working households, parents needing assistance, and people living with disabilities.

The investigation is to determine whether there is a feasible rental housing proposal that:

  • conforms to the neighbourhood character,
  • is acceptable to the community, and
  • meets funding guidelines and provides enough housing units to be successful.

The steps identified in the feasibility investigation include:

  • public consultation
  • environmental site assessment, geotechnical investigation and property survey;
  • exploration of solutions for the current uses of the land (presently the property supports the geothermal heating system of the Kemball Centre and is a secure parking area for BC Transit) ; and
  • the development of a building design that will include the character of the building, the number of possible units, parking, access and amenity space on site.

If an acceptable and feasible housing project is identified, Kaslo Housing Society will work with its partners to secure funding, and the Village will be asked for its support of the proposal.

The site will require Village approval for an amendment of the Official Community Plan as well as a rezoning appropriate for an affordable multi-unit rental building on that site.

For more information and to find out how you can get involved, please, join us for the following events:

  • Oct 22, 7pm: Information Session with Q&A
  • Oct 25, noon, Sites Walk – Meet outside the Langham for a 2 hour walk and conversation about potential housing sites and the proposed site for this project
  • Oct 26, 7pm: Information Session with Q&A
  • Early November, Date TBA
  • In person Sessions – Please register for one of our in-person sessions by signing up HERE or by emailing  KHS

Join by Zoom at this LINK  or by phone at 778 907 2071 Meeting ID: 899 0327 2865
Passcode: 281335

Prior And On Hold Projects:

KHS Working Towards Accessible, Affordable Housing For Kaslo Residents

Kaslo for 99 years. Housing provision here would require providing infrastructure on the land including road, water, sewer and electricity, as well as building new appropriate housing. We have explored the financial and funding implications of providing infrastructure on this property ‘on its own.’ The infrastructure would be more efficient and less costly if developed in the context of an Official Community Plan revision for South Kaslo.

We are excited for the opportunity to participate in an Official Community Plan revision, and are seeking others interested in developing housing or other uses that could contribute to the area. These could include cooperatively owned housing, a community land trust or traditional equity housing.

Working in partnership with New Commons Development (a nonprofit development company that works in partnership with community-based nonprofits) KHS was investigating the acquisition and renovation of the partially completed Kaslo Bay condominium development as a way to deliver affordable rental housing to Kaslo. Unfortunately we had to set this project aside for feasibility reasons. We are, however, continually working with New Commons to determine the potential viability and feasibility of other potential project sites.

To learn more about New Commons Development, visit their website https://newcommons.ca

Published in Valley Voice July 18, 2019

Innovative Kaslo Housing Project Seeks A Willing Landlord

A new small-scale project aimed at providing supportive housing for Kaslo’s homeless or precariously-housed population is poised to move ahead. “All we are missing now is the collaboration of a landlord,” says Erika Bird, chair of the Kaslo Housing Society (KHS).

The society’s program- Community Working to End Homelessness (CWEH)- provides supportive housing to persons needing assistance with finding and staying successfully housed, and who may be hard to house due to a poor housing record, poverty, stigmatizing health conditions, addictions or mental health challenges.

How does CWEH work?

The goal is for KHS to lease an accessible, affordable, adequate unit from a lalndlord for at least one year. KHS then sublets the accommodation while assuming responsibility for rent payment and the condition of the unit. KHS , the landlord and the tenant all agree to work together to ensure tenant housing success. Persons selected to receive housing through the CWEH program will receive support services and case management from a housing navigator.
In effect, the CWEH creates a partnership between a landlord, Kaslo Housing Society and the person in need of stable housing.
The idea behind the CWEH program is not new. “We heard about this program from Kevin Flaherty, our staff at the Kaslo Housing Society” said Bird. “He’d met a group in Whitehorse who have had success with it for a number of years now. They encouraged us to try it as it has proved to be a way of creating solutions on a small scale one person at a time. The experience in Whitehorse is that the program will grow in support and capacity once the community sees the initial success.”
Bird says that before launching the program in Kaslo, the society wanted to have the commitment of resources to support one person for at least one year. “Thanks to some community-minded people here and the Columbia Basin Trust, we now have that,” she says. “We would also like to give a shout out to the staff at Kaslo Western Financial Group who contributed $15,000 from their Community Fundraising Walk.”
Bird says individuals in Kaslo have made pledges to support the program with $10 or $20 per month. “The generosity of these individuals has really impressed us,” she said.
A $5,000. Social Grant from Columbia Basin Trust will get the project off the ground and help the society find the right person to assume the role of housing navigator, “she said. The society has also committed some of its own funds that is has raised through numerous activities over the years.
Persons wishing to make donations to the CWEH or other projects of the Kaslo Housing Society can go to CanadaHelps.ca and make monthly or one time contributions. As a registered charitable organization, the Kaslo Housing Society can issue charitable tax receipts to donors.

Finding suitable accommodation now the priority

With the funds coming together for the first year, Kevin Flaherty, KHS housing coordinator says the focus now is finding a willing and suitable landlord to work with. “We recognize that those offering long-term rental accommodations in this community have choices in applicants for the spaces. We are asking that they consider the support that this project offers an the long-term benefits to the community of having stable housing for all.”
The project will be guided by a CWEH Working Group of interested and skilled community members. The group will have access to a host of policies and practices that have worked well in other communities. One of the goals of the program is to improve the chances of self-sufficiency of homeless individuals and those at imminent risk of homelessness.
Support that will be offered includes helping with the paperwork, transitioning into accommodation, maintaining good landlord relationships, assisting with conflict resolution between tenants and landlords, providing housing loss prevention interventions, and assisting tenants with processes required to obtain rent subsidies.
Experience in Canada and other countries has shown that this model makes for high success rates for individuals who likely are addressing other problems which contribute to their housing difficulties. The CWEH model also minimizes risks for landlords while meaningfully engaging them in resolving homelessness in the community. It will allow KHS to support persons in need without having to own buildings. It will integrate those persons into the community rather than ghettoizing them into one building or neighbourhood and it is designed to be long-term and stable.
Affordable housing is not a Kaslo only concern; a greater and greater proportion of the population is facing housing challenges. The CWEH approach will not address all the housing issues in Kaslo and surrounding area, but it will help to meet the needs of those who face the more intransigent barriers in their search for adequate housing. Meanwhile KHS is actively pursuing longer term solutions.
For more information, contact Kevin Flaherty, Housing coordinator, Kaslo Housing Society, 250-353-8363

Co-operative Housing – Is it an option for you?

Written by Kevin Flaherty – KHS Housing Coordinator
Edited by Alexandra Halliday

Join us at an Information Meeting on Co-op Housing In Kaslo, hosted by the Kaslo Housing Society.

St. Andrew’s Heritage Hall, 500 4th Street, Kaslo,

Tuesday, August 20th at 7 pm.

We welcome all who are interested to this informal 90 minute session. Feel free to bring your children.

One of the resource persons in attendance will be Lorien Quattrocchi, a highly involved housing co-operative member and leader in the Province.

Over the past 16 months, as part of my work for the Kaslo Housing Society, a common thread throughout my many conversations with Kaslo residents has been the lack of accessible and affordable housing in Kaslo and area. Escalating house prices and stagnant incomes make it impossible for many Kaslo residents to buy homes of their own, even older homes, which could be purchased at a lower cost and renovated by their new owners. Many of the residents I have spoken with are working steady and paying a regular rent – but they have been forced to move or are terrified of being asked to move out, due to circumstances beyond their control due to an extreme shortage of suitable rental homes. These people, of course, hope, that the Kaslo Housing Society will succeed in creating some form of affordable public housing, run by the KHS and occupied by themselves as tenants. As you can see from our Our Housing Projects page, the KHS has been diligently working with various funders and partners to develop and implement a variety of housing approaches and solutions to relieve the pressures of this lack of accessible and affordable housing in Kaslo.
As this is a serious situation, which affects the welfare and future of the entire community, the Kaslo Housing Society is desirous to bring together the community to talk about working cooperatively to address our housing needs.
Co-ops are described by many of their residents as great places to live alone, to share a living space with someone, to raise children or to age in place. Cooperative housing organizations are, and have for decades been, a common feature of most Canadian cities, but unfortunately there also exist many misconceptions about what co-op housing is.
Many people confuse co-op housing with condominium or strata ownership structures. In fact, however, housing co-ops more resemble their sister organizations, credit unions. They are controlled and run by the membership, and you must live there to be a member. The co-op housing structure does not allow for absentee owners or for minority controlling proxy voting. Co-op housing, which has been growing in popularity in the country, shares some similarities with co-housing,
Another common misconception is, that everyone, who is not a home owner, loses out on the opportunity to ‘get their equity’. But for many the goal of a secure home is more realistic and more important than thinking of their home as a financial investment.
I have spoken with people in our community, who have lived the positive experience of being part of housing cooperatives. These experiences need to be heard, need to shape the expectations of what co-op housing ‘lives’ like and how it could become part of the housing solution for Kaslo residents.
One person elaborated on the co-op housing experience as follows: “Individual home ownership sounds great if you can afford it. I could always pay the rent but never made enough money to get a down payment. Our co-op may not provide me with individual equity, but it doesn’t generate individual risk either. Instead, I get a secure and well constructed place to live at a reasonable cost and for as long as I need and as long as I participate in the co-op. I think that is a good trade.”
Another person talked about co-op housing members having a say in their housing, even if they don’t have individual ownership. All co-op members live in the co-op. This means, that everyone has a stake in decisions. “The co-op organizational structure means that we all have a voice and a vote and that our vote carries the same weight as everyone else’s.”
The Kaslo Housing Society is holding this information meeting to share some basic information about some common types of cooperative housing and to ascertain, if enough people might be interested in working together, with us to move forward on their own co-op housing project. We look forward to seeing you all at this meeting, so that, together we can explore this potential partial, hands-on solution to our local housing crisis.

JazzFest Lovers’ Camping 2019

The Housing Society thanks Jazzfest for the opportunity to host campers. during Jazzfest weekend  They seemed very happy as our guests on our picturesque piece of land, which we lease from the Village of Kaslo. This is the third year we have hosted and it’s a very worthwhile fundraiser. It’s dependent on the work and time from many volunteers, not all of whom are on the board! We so appreciate all their efforts and good spirits. Thank you!

A special Thank You goes out to this year’s Lovers’ Volunteers:

Linda Kelly
Marlene Skaley
Tara Clapp
Jasmin Coffey
Mary-Jane Coffey
Kevin Flaherty
Erika Bird
John Rasmussen
Debra Barrett
Christine Parton

The Valley Voice valleyvoice.ca
December 14, 2017

Kaslo Housing Society presents concept for riverside property

by Jan McMurray – Republished with permission

The Kaslo Housing Society has a concept for an affordable housing complex on the Village-owned land that was set aside for them in 2001, as well as funding for a housing coordinator. Erika Bird, chair of the society, made a presentation at council’s November 28 Committee of the Whole meeting to update the Village on the society’s activities and plans.
In an interview, Bird and Debra Barrett, society secretary, said their key message to council was their continued interest in the riverside property in Kaslo, and their wish to negotiate a lease or transfer of title. “We had a very positive reception,” Bird said. Bird explained that society representatives went before council as a delegation in March, and council asked them to come back with more details about their vision for the property, and information about what other communities are doing.
“So we spent a fair bit of time coming up with a shovel-ready concept,” said Bird.
Barrett, a visual artist who has experience with home renovations, drew up conceptual drawings for a two-storey lodge with 8-12 small studio apartments and a central
courtyard. The drawings were part of the presentation to council for their feedback.
A landlord/ tenant survey conducted by the society this year confirmed that small units (for one person) with $400-$800 monthly rental fees are in greatest demand in Kaslo.
Bird said the society is looking at a phased development; the Riverside Lodge is the concept for phase one.
“We’re at the point where we can’t proceed without the equity,” Bird said “so we’ve asked council to think about that. There are a number of ways it can be done – transfer of title to the society, transfer of title to a third party, a long-term lease.”
A comment made to the society board from Rob Jaswall of CMHC (Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation) was shared with council:
“Provincial and federal government funding for affordable housing is higher now than it is has ever been. To access that funding, you have to start with dirt under your feet.”
To help move a housing project forward, the society will hire a housing coordinator. The coordinator will also work on increasing the number of rentals in town by encouraging
secondary suites and the rental of ‘dark homes’ (unoccupied by their owners for most of the year), and on resolving difficulties between landlords and tenants. Funding for the coordinator has come from CBT ($50,000) and the Kaslo and Area D Economic Development Commission ($14,000), and two more grants are pending.
They’d like to raise enough funding to offer the position for two years.

AFFORDABLE NEW HOUSING FOR FAMILIES

The KHS continues to seek solutions to provide housing on the South kaslo property leased to us by the Village of Kaslo for 99 years. Housing provision here would require providing infrastructure on the land including road, water, sewer and electricity, as well as building new appropriate housing. We have explored the financial and funding implications of providing infrastructure on this property ‘on its own.’ The infrastructure would be more efficient and less costly if developed in the context of an Official Community Plan revision for South Kaslo.

We are excited for the opportunity to participate in an Official Community Plan revision, and are seeking others interested in developing housing or other uses that could contribute to the area. These could include cooperatively owned housing, a community land trust or traditional equity housing.

Our thanks go to the Village of Kaslo for the lease of the land and ongoing cooperation in moving this project forward and to the Columbia Basin Trust for their support of our planning work and the pre-development work.

Key Considerations

  • Site Issues: A number of serious and possibly expensive site issues, such as roadway and water, need to be addressed on the above mentioned site.
  • Construction Funding: The KHS is very interested in working with the VOK and the community in developing a community supported vision for a larger parcel of land connected to the already existing site, that would make our short-term housing goals for that land more affordable, while meeting the overall needs of our growing community. To make this happen, Construction Funding will be required.
  • Organizational Capacity: Organizational Capacity to Construct and Operate the project is being addressed, both internally and with partnerships.
  • Active Collaboration with Partners and Funders: Success requires the continual growth of active collaboration with VOK, contractors, experienced affordable housing operators and other interested community organizations and residents.The KHS is actively engaged in pre-development work on a multi-family project for a South Kaslo property leased to us by the Village of Kaslo for 99 years. This project involves taking the piece of raw land and determining, how best to develop it to meet the need for affordable housing in our community. This long awaited project has significant community interest and support.
    The proposal is being designed to the criteria of the most recent BC Housing Community Housing RFP, which, we presume, will be repeated in late 2019 or early 2020.
    The proposal is to create affordable accommodation of up to 18 multi-bedroom units on the .8 acres of land leased from the Village of Kaslo. The units would be of varying sizes to fit local needs, including some seniors housing and housing for tenants with disabilities. We see a mix of ages as a valuable aspec