Nelson City Council has taken one more step toward figuring out how to best support the construction of affordable housing in Nelson.
At its June 18 meeting, council decided to concentrate over the next few months on helping two Nelson non-profits prepare their funding applications to BC Housing for two new proposed housing projects. Council also decided to put on the back burner, for the time being, a plan to create its own municipal housing corporation.
BC Housing is expected to put out a call for housing construction proposals in the fall, and SHARE Nelson and Nelson CARES are planning to apply for funding for buildings on city-owned land on Fell Street and on Front Street, respectively.
SHARE Nelson built Herridge Place at 102 Herridge Lane in Nelson, which opened in 2021. Nelson CARES developed and runs five buildings in Nelson including Hall Street Place and Lakeside Place.
At its June 4 meeting, council decided to grant each of those organizations $5,000 to do feasibility and pre-development work. On June 18 it confirmed that its planning staff will work with the two agencies to do such things as initial feasibility work, identifying partnerships, concept development, securing land, and initial design and costing.
Several council members argued that council should simultaneously get started on creating its own municipal housing corporation so that the city was not dependent on non-profit organizations. Councillors Leslie Payne and Keith Page said if Nelson CARES and SHARE Nelson are successful and start building on Fell and Front Streets, there will be a time lag of several years before the two organizations can plan any further projects. A Nelson development corporation could fill that gap, they argued.
In response, city manager Kevin Cormack stated that the short-staffed planning department does not have the time to do that work if it is already working to help SHARE Nelson and Nelson CARES with their pre-development work.
As a result, council decided to put the question of a municipal housing entity on the meeting agenda as a workshop for council in the fall to decide next steps.
