Vancouver Island elected representatives have supported a Regional District of Nanaimo call to have tiny homes used to mitigate the housing crisis.
The Association of Vancouver Island and 台湾MM裸聊室 Communities, comprised of local governments on the Island, is holding its annual general meeting in Nanaimo this weekend and on Saturday, April 12, a majority of delegates favoured a motion asking Union of B.C. Municipalities, to advocate the B.C. government to have tiny homes classified differently from RVs and make appropriate changes to regulations.
Leanne Salter, RDN Errington-Coombs director, told her peers that currently there are three barriers to tiny home usage 鈥� political, financial and cultural. These should not be stopping people from being housed, she said.
"Basically, it's about establishing specific building standards for tiny homes within the B.C. Building Code, and creating a specific [Canadian Standards Association] standard, which will address many of the barriers that are preventing their widespread use, in particular, establishing minimum standards to address health and safety 鈥� people are living in tiny homes now. They're doing OK. The houses aren't falling over. People are happy and they're not living on the street," said Salter.
Deb Morrison, Islands Trust North Pender Island representative, was among those speaking in favour.
"This really helps to solve a lot of the housing crisis we have in the Gulf Islands in ways that are appropriate to living way on the land and so we really appreciate the ability to have code and there's been a group of trustees working on how an Island's Trust version of tiny homes would work well," said Morrison.
A District of Sechelt resolution to ask UBCM to compel the B.C. government and B.C. Housing to "require that all supportive housing and shelter operators enter into a 'Good Neighbour Agreement (GNA)' with the local governments in which [the] facilities operate, to ensure clear expectations regarding community impact mitigation, security measures, and ongoing engagement with local government and residents," garnered much discussion and passed by a vote of 77-70.
The district cited a City of Nanaimo agreement in background information and Coun. Brenda Rowe (Sechelt) said local governments are encountering issues with community safety and property maintenance and accountability.
"We believe that the adoption of good neighbour agreements across B.C. can standardize expectations and enhance accountability for supportive housing and shelter operators, thereby improving relationships between these facilities and their surrounding communities," she said.
Coun. Scott Harrison (Town of Qualicum Beach) thought mandated agreements are problematic.
"Every single time that there's a court case, which would be derived on the province mandating that this is what constitutes 'a good neighbour agreement,' and then a local neighbourhood association will say during [the application process] that there's a flaw in the good neighbour agreement, and then it gets litigated to the courts, and there's more money that's eaten up for lawsuits instead of being used for housing," said Harrison.
Collaborating with B.C. Housing would yield much better results, he said, while a mandate would "create fodder for lawyers instead of homes for British Columbians."
A City of Nanaimo resolution seeking alternative approval process adjustments and an RDN resolution to make owning hybrid wolf-dogs illegal will be debated on the last day of the AGM, Sunday, April 13.
