City of Powell River council has revised a resolution regarding a provincially mandated housing needs assessment to indicate it is taking the lead on the project.
At the council meeting on Thursday, December 19, councillors voted to rescind a previous motion regarding its housing needs assessment grant application, and that council authorizes the city to be the primary applicant to apply for, receive and manage $80,000 in combined grant funding to complete a 2020 regional housing needs assessment report in partnership with qathet Regional District, and that council recognize the $17,000 in contributions from Tla’amin Nation for the regional housing needs assessment.
At the December 17 committee of the whole meeting, city senior planner Daniella Fergusson said city council had already made a recommendation and given direction to staff to go forward with the housing needs assessment as a council resolution. She was requesting that council adopt a new resolution for the city’s Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) application that stated the city is the primary applicant and will be providing overall grant management. Fergusson said even though the city’s initial application to the UBCM had that detail in it, the funder was requiring council’s resolution to specify its leadership role.
In a report to the committee of the whole, Fergusson stated the Local Government Act was updated in 2018 to require local governments to complete a housing needs assessment at least every five years and incorporate the findings into the official community plan. UBCM manages grant funding to support local governments in completing housing needs assessment reports to meet provincial requirements.
Fergusson stated that under the first resolution, the regional social planner applied for an $80,000 grant to complete a regional housing needs assessment in 2020, a partnership between the city, regional district and Tla’amin.
“Staff received feedback from UBCM staff that a more detailed council resolution was required that explicitly stated the city is the primary applicant and will be providing overall grant management,” stated Fergusson.
She said the previous resolution spoke about working with the regional district for an $80,000 grant application for the housing needs assessment. Her proposal was that the previous resolution be rescinded and replaced with one council carried at its December 19 meeting.
Mayor Dave Formosa asked if a housing needs assessment had already been done.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said a housing needs assessment had been done but it was not at the level this new one will be at, which has been mandated by the province.
“The provincial government has said it requires them, but the good news is they will fund them,” said Hathaway. “I absolutely want to go ahead with this.”
The committee gave unanimous consent for the matter to be sent to city council for approval.
The total combined grant application will be for $80,000 maximum, and no matching funding is required. Tla’amin Nation will contribute up to $17,000 to participate in the housing needs assessment to ensure report data and community engagement opportunities reach the 1,145 members of Tla’amin and 19.17 square kilometres of land, according to Fergusson’s report.
If the grant request is successful, the regional social planner will manage the grant and hire a consultant to lead the initiative and prepare the regional housing needs assessment report in 2020. The regional social planner will administer the grant through the city.
Fergusson stated that staff from the city, regional district and Tla’amin have been working together already and will continue to work together to support the regional social planner in providing technical and subject-matter expertise.
