Affordable Housing in North Saanich - Keeping Them Honest

By Cairine Green, Candidate for North Saanich Council -- November 2008

In this election, the issue of “affordable” housing is a topic of debate. Whether North Saanich can provide housing that young families, young singles, single parent families, people with disabilities and seniors on fixed incomes can afford to buy and sustain is a good question.

Providing social housing in a North Saanich real estate market is a huge challenge that requires more than just developers, politicians and real estate agents telling us that it should and can be done.

The red-hot real estate market, which is cooling down as we speak, was accelerated by three major factors:

  • the Federal government, through CMHC, relaxed mortgage regulations by introducing zero per cent down;
  • the Bank of Canada and central banks kept interest rates low; and
  • major lenders increased maximum amortization periods from 25 years up to 40 years.

Buyers could borrow more, pay less and for much longer. These changes opened the market to new homebuyers who would otherwise have little access to an inflated housing market.

So what do we really mean by the term “affordable” in North Saanich? This is a fair question when you see that earlier this year; the average market price of a single-family dwelling in North Saanich was about $723,000, second highest in the CRD behind Oak Bay. In fact, the history of new housing built in North Saanich since 2002, tells the real story -- all units (single-family dwellings and condominiums in particular, including new lots) were priced according to market supply and demand, a market that had been one of the highest in more than 12 years and geared to maximum profitability, including higher income, off shore or non-resident buyers.

For the sake of argument, delete the word “affordable” and instead use the term “below market” housing. In a higher end real estate market such as North Saanich, what would “below market” housing look like? We need to examine the facts about income levels, employment markets and the disparity between land value and new housing costs in North Saanich with the second highest property assessments in the capital region.

In my view, developers define “affordable” housing in North Saanich as what they can afford to build and what you can afford to pay. If a purchaser can afford to get a mortgage for a new housing unit, single-family dwelling or multi-family unit, either low or high density, then that may be considered affordable in the North Saanich market.

According according to the recommendations of the North Saanich Housing Strategy report, anything affordable appears to be aimed at combined family incomes of between $70,000 and $100,000. Frankly, in North Saanich, that excludes young workers in service jobs, seniors on fixed incomes, people with disabilities on disability pensions and the majority of single parent families that otherwise qualify for affordable housing elsewhere in the CRD.

The Langford model, which some people have suggested we bring to North Saanich, is directly tied to the market value of land in the Western Communities. Langford works like this. The municipality requires developers to donate 1 affordable housing unit in every 10 before any re-zoning takes place. On a market price of approximately $350,000 per single-family unit for 10 units, the developer must dedicate 1 unit at a price of approximately $150,000 -$160,000. Qualified purchasers must also meet criteria that include a combined family income of no more than $60,000, family assets of no more than $50,000 and some kind of link with the community of Langford. Real estate agents marketing the affordable unit must waive their commissions. I understand that last year, there were about 1,700 applicants for one affordable unit. While this is a successful model for Langford and I commend them, it is obvious that there are not enough available units to meet the needs in Langford.

If we as municipal leaders are truly honest about our ability to build affordable or below market housing in North Saanich, then we must develop a plan that involves all key stakeholders and partners at the table. We need to involve the BC Government through BC Housing, the Federal Government through CMHC, the real estate industry, banks, non-profit organizations and social service agencies and, of course, generous developers willing to reduce profits, donate land and dedicate housing units for sale at well below current market prices.

I support any initiative for below market housing in North Saanich if it is well planned, well managed and guarantees quality of life. We can do it, but let’s be honest about what it will take and who will benefit.

CRD And Its Regional Growth Strategy Review 2008 - A Must Read

Further to my article on Regional Growth Strategy, the Capital Regional District (CRD) has released its most recent State of the Region 2008 Review of the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS). I encourage all North Saanich voters to examine this report which can be found at http://www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/growth/index.htmIt tells the real story behind planned growth, development and housing in the CRD and points out the significance of our 2007 Official Community Plan (OCP) for managing growth and development here in North Saanich.

Below are some key highlights from this report that I think are critical to the current debate about unplanned growth and development and the need to protect green and blue spaces in North Saanich, defined by the CRD as a rural-residential municipality outside the regional urban containment boundary:


REGIONAL PLANNING
  • The intent of the RGS is to direct the majority of growth into designated areas (the Regional Urban Containment and Servicing Policy Area (RUCSPA), accessible to servicing, transit and community facilities.
  • The RGS also restricts the extension of piped services to areas beyond the RUCSPA boundary if the intent of the servicing is to facilitate urban development.
  • Rural agricultural land has been continually decreasing since the Agricultural Land Reserve set aside 12,085 hectares in 1972...due to the pressures of urban development.
  • When the urban portion of the region is kept compact, the advantages are that development can be more efficiently serviced, public transit can be better provided, cycling and walking can become more viable and there is better protection for green and blue spaces (e.g., North Saanich).
  • The intent of the RGS is to encourage higher density development within the Urban Containment Boundary, while maintaining lower densities in rural areas...indicators are that the Urban Containment Boundary will be able to accommodate the region's population growth over the next 20 years.
  • A constant land area containing the majority of the population growth indicates that the urban containment boundary is properly situated.
EMPLOYMENT FACTORS, HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION
  • The average 2007 house price in the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area is nearly 10 times the average wage. The gap between average household income and the requirement to purchase an average single detached dwelling has widened for the fourth consecutive year to nearly $75,000.
  • The establishment of a Housing Trust Fund in 2005 was a key initiative in the Regional Housing Affordability Strategy. The fund supports and leverages capital funding for acquiring, developing and retaining affordable housing for individuals and families with low or moderate incomes in the region. North Saanich participates in this fund.
  • Lower development costs make developing on the rural fringes attractive; however, the servicing demands on the public are high in these areas, resulting in the inefficient use of resources. Servicing development within the urban containment boundary makes the most efficient use of infrastructure.
  • Between 2001 and 2006, the employment share within the CRD for the Saanich Peninsula remained stable at 11 per cent of the region's total.
  • Total greenhouse gas emissions since 1995 and between 2001 and 2006 have decreased, due in large part to fuel efficient motor vehicles.
The intent of the regional containment boundary and the approaches needed to reduce sprawl development and inefficient servicing patterns should be enhanced, including: housing, unprotected green space, resource lands, regional sustainability and climate change.

Regional Growth Strategy - My position

REGIONAL GROWTH STRATEGY

By Cairine Green, North Saanich


I support the motion to deny the amendment to the Regional Growth Strategy. To explain my position, I want to provide the following background information. Like many people, I needed to completely understand what the strategy is and what it really means for North Saanich, the Saanich Peninsula and the region.

The Capital Regional District Board adopted the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) on August 13, 2003. The strategy represents an agreement, developed and approved, by all member municipalities and the regional district in partnership, on social, economic and environmental goals and priority actions.

This is a landmark agreement, a landmark agreement as cited in a report prepared in March 2003 by the Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, titled, “The Capital Regional District Growth Strategy: Herding Cats onto the Road of Sustainability”. In part, the report states:

  • In many urban and rural areas, local citizens motivated by concerns about community disruption and environmental degradation have resisted development projects of various kinds. In some cases, these actions have reflected a broader concern that on a finite planet, or at least in a finite community or region, future growth in human demands will be increasingly destructive.

  • The result has been a second wave of growth management that is expected to cover not just all factors that affect growth patterns, but also all consideration that affect long-term community and ecological sustainability.

  • Sustainability is fundamentally a matter of applied ethics. It has a human focus but involves consideration of future as well as present interests and recognizes ultimate human dependence on the biosphere. Arguably, commitment to sustainability entails adoption of what Aldo Leopold called the “land ethic” – extending the definition of community from the social interaction of individuals to the linking of all components of the natural world, and requiring people to view themselves as stewards of the land.

  • Development of this kind allows for the building of a shared local culture that encompasses history, values and traditions of a particular place or region.

In 1995, the BC government passed the Growth Strategies Statutes Amendment Act to facilitate better coordination of municipalities, regional districts and the provincial government to deal with complex growth management issues. However, its most significant provisions focus on the regional level. The act gave “legislative authority” for regional districts to voluntarily develop and adopt a Regional Growth Strategy.

A regional growth strategy is a regional vision that commits affected municipalities and regional districts to a course of action to meet common social, economic and environmental objectives. It also forms a part of a municipality’s Official Community Plan through a Regional Context Statement, which links the RGS to the municipal plan. The RGS is designed to outline the regional vision for the next 20 years.

The core objective of the Growth Strategies Act is “to promote human settlement that is socially, economically and environmentally healthy and makes efficient use of ... land and other resources.” The foremost priority goals for the RGS are:
  • Avoiding urban sprawl and ensuring that development takes place where adequate facilities exist
  • Protecting environmentally sensitive areas
  • Maintaining the integrity of a secure, productive resource base, including agricultural, and forestland reserves
  • Protecting the quality and quantity of ground and surface water
Conclusion:
Without consistent support and long term commitment from the Capital Regional District through its Regional Growth Strategy, municipal boundaries that keep urban containment compact will be vulnerable, resulting in unmanaged growth that will continue to threaten green and rural spaces, agriculture and farmland and forests and water resources. Local governments in the CRD must now decide how strong, consistent and effective they will be in the application of sound land use policy that considers critical factors such as:
  • Regional energy planning and conservation
  • Food production and security
  • Efficient, economical and environmentally sound transporation planning
  • Conservation and use of water resources
  • Waste disposal
The Regional Growth Strategy enables local governments to manage growth with confidence and vision, to plan for the future and for an environmental legacy of which generations after us can be proud.

The report by the University of Waterloo concludes with the following statement that, for me, says it all in a nutshell:
  • If the necessary goodwill and commitment are to be found anywhere in B.C., they are to be found among the municipal leaders and residents of the CRD, given the long standing concern for quality of life issues in this region. What happens in the CRD will therefore be an important test of the Regional Growth Strategy mechanism. If effective growth management using the Regional Growth Strategy cannot be accomplished in the CRD, it is unlikely that the mechanism will work well anywhere in the Province.
The latest CRD Report on Regional Growth Management is now available on the CRD website.

I urge voters to read this latest update on the State of the Region Report. It is a five-year review of the Regional Growth Strategy which was released in September 2008.
The report can be found at: http://www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/growth/index.htm