Letter to the province on 800% increase in city fees to build carriage houses

August 19, 2022

Hon. Minister Murray Rankin
Minister Responsible for Housing
IRR.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Hon. Minister Nathan Cullen
Minister of Municipal Affairs
Muni.Minister@gov.bc.ca

By Email: 

Dear Ministers, It has come to my attention that in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, the Province of British Columbia is forcing the City of Kelowna to increase development cost charges (DCCs) on carriage homes from $2,500 per unit to $22,419 per unit.

As you know, Kelowna, much like many other communities in Canada, is facing historically low rental vacancy rates. This means there are simply not enough homes to house the number of people who live in our community. In order to solve this crisis, without drastically altering the landscape of our community, “missing middle” housing has been proposed as a significant opportunity to address this crisis. Missing middle housing includes carriage homes.

Carriage homes provide an opportunity for existing residents and homes to add a rental property to their property, without drastically increasing pressures on water, sewage, roads, parking and other critical community infrastructure. It’s considered gentle density. These homes are then rented out and often meet the needs of young couples, retirees, students and more.

By maintaining a low DCC rate on carriage homes, the City of Kelowna is incentivizing the construction of much-needed missing middle housing.

The rhetoric from Government of BC, under the leadership of Premier Horgan and former Housing Minister David Eby, has been clear that they want municipalities to increase the availability of housing in our province. In Ontario by comparison, DCCs are waived for all secondary suites in order to incentivize missing middle housing. 

Therefore, I am at a loss of words for why the province would seek to drastically increase costs for renters and property owners, while discouraging a healthier mix of housing options in Kelowna.

Ministers, I ask that you please explain the rationale behind your decision.

Have you measured the level to which this decision will disincentivize the construction of new missing middle housing? Have you measured how much this will increase market rent for new carriage home rental units?

Given that Kelowna is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, I implore you to revisit your decision and allow Kelowna to maintain its $2,500 per unit DCC rate for new carriage home construction.

Thank you for your consideration and I await your response,