Nelson city council agreed at its Jan. 7 meeting to contribute $10,000 each to two local non-profits to help them prepare their affordable funding applications to BC Housing.
SHARE Nelson is planning an affordable housing project on city land on Fell Street in Fairview and Nelson CARES is working on plans for a building in the 800 block of Front Street on land owned partly by the city and partly by the Regional District of Central Kootenay.
This grant from the affordable housing fund is the second for each of the two projects.
Council granted the two organizations $5,000 in June, each to do feasibility and pre-development work to prepare for their applications to BC Housing. At that time council also committed some of its planning staff's time to help with this.
Rezoning applications for both projects have not yet come before council.
Both projects would serve people living and working in Nelson with low-to-moderate incomes.
Wearing multiple hats
Councillor Rik Logtenberg said the two grants could create pressure to approve the rezoning application when it is brought to council.
"Given the investments we have made and the investments they (SHARE Nelson and Nelson CARES) have made, it will be very difficult for us not to follow through," he said.
City manager Kevin Cormack pointed out that council is in an awkward position because it appears to be championing these projects but in fact the city will not lease the land to either of the two organizations until the properties are rezoned. When the formal process of rezoning comes before council, members are expected to hear the evidence and arguments for and against with an open mind.
He suggested that what council should be championing, rather than a specific project, is affordable housing in general, across the city, in accordance with the Official Community Plan.
"I get how the public says, 'Well, you seem to be supporting this project, and we have not even gone through the zoning process yet.' That is the unfortunate part of wearing multiple hats."
Logtenberg said that some people in Fairview near the proposed SHARE Nelson site on Fell Street have expressed that they have not been adequately consulted.
"We need to do a better job of bringing the community and other stakeholders along," he said. "We have to do a better job of preparing neighbourhoods for what is coming."
Mayor Janice Morrison suggested it was also the job of SHARE Nelson and Nelson CARES to do this.
SHARE Nelson has announced a public open house about the proposed project to be held at the Prestige on Monday, Jan. 13 from 5-7 p.m.
Councillor Kate Tait wondered why the $10,000 could not come from elsewhere rather than from the city, and she asked if the rest of the community is sufficiently informed about, or committed to, the provision of affordable housing.
"There are still some members of the public who are wondering, 'How does this contribute to the public good?'"
Morrison said the Regional District of Central Kootenay should be asked to contribute.
"The RDCK for a variety of reasons can't seem to be able to build any kind of housing," she said.
Affordable housing mandate
A 2023 housing report commissioned by council recommended that the city make public land available for affordable housing and that it partner with non-profit housing organizations who would apply for provincial funding.
Councillor Jesse Woodward said council is doing exactly that with these projects, and he said providing affordable housing is also what the community has been asking council to do.
"We are unrolling what the community asked us to do five years ago. We did surveys and it was housing, housing, housing. There is a housing crisis in this town, and we are doing what people asked us to do, and we are doing what the province asked us to do."
Morrison pointed out that there is one other deciding factor in the decision-making process. The two organizations might not get funding from BC Housing.
"That is completely out of the hands of the City of Nelson," she said. "There is no guarantee that Nelson is getting funding for one, let alone two, when there is also one already getting funding to a certain extent for the project (in Railtown) at the Chamber of Commerce."
Applications to BC Housing to build housing projects are complex and competitive. The $10,000 granted by council to each organization will pay for consultants to help with their applications that will respond to a call for proposals that closes later this month.
The two $10,000 grants will be drawn from the city's affordable housing fund, which contained $125,113 as of Dec. 31, according to city staff.The purpose of the affordable housing fund is not to build housing as such, but to encourage others to do so.
All councillors voted in favour of the $10,000 grants except Tait. Councillor Keith Page was not at the meeting.
