Mayor Wayne Price said Cranbrook’s Housing Task Force has been making good headway in creating a more ambitious housing strategy.
This comes as the task force published its recommendations, highlighting a need for updated affordable housing policies.
“There’s still a way to go. I think we’ll be getting back and going beyond the initial strategies and talking about some potential actions and partnerships that we can put together to see some of these housing projects realized,” said Price.
Mayor Price said the city is responding well to new regulations from the B.C. government aimed at increasing housing density and speeding up development.
“For a community the size of Cranbrook, I’m fine with it. We ere looking at some of those changes regardless, just to address the housing crisis,” said Price.
“We have been working on a revised OCP (official community plan) for the last year and a half. We’re kind of ahead of it in that way because your OCP and building regulations all have to align.”
Price said a lengthy, cumbersome funding process is one of the major hurdles faced by affordable housing developments.
“Any time you need assistance from provincial government funding, the process is very lengthy,” said Price. “I would like to see a system where it’s directly awarded by the province to a contractor. Even if the funding goes to the municipality to give to the contractor, then you could find a non-profit to manage it.”
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