Local developer David Perehudoff tried to draw the link between affordable housing and school enrolment at the Feb. 9 school district consultation meeting. He was shot down by Councillor Mike Campol, who told him it was the wrong place to be pitching his development proposal. Perehudoff says he’s determined to bring in affordable housing. (Richard McGuire photo)
Declining school enrolments have been blamed for the decision by School District 53 (SD53) to move forward with a process to close one of the two Osoyoos schools.
But what if Osoyoos could reverse the downward trend by encouraging more families with children to live here?
Could making more affordable housing available signal to the school district that enrolment declines aren’t inevitable like the law of gravity?
Osoyoos isn’t alone in having a declining population of students. Most school districts in the province have seen numbers decline, and in SD53, Oliver, not Osoyoos, has seen the steepest decline.
For close to a decade, Osoyoos has been looking at the issue of affordable housing, but progress has been slow. When economic times were good, developers focused on high-end and vacation homes, which tended to appeal to an older demographic and were more profitable.
When the economy cooled in the recession of 2008-09, housing prices plunged and haven’t recovered. And developers were wary of producing any new homes, let alone affordable ones, with lower profit margins.
Would bringing more affordable housing to Osoyoos help to attract younger families and increase school enrolments?
“It’s absolutely essential for the area, there’s no question,” said Carol Youngberg, an Osoyoos town councillor with a long background in real estate and housing.
Youngberg searched local listings online last week and found only six single-family houses, or about 10 if half-duplexes are included, in the $290,000 to $360,000 range.
That, she said, is much less than a community like Osoyoos needs.
For years, the town has pinned its hopes on developing Southeast Meadowlark, an area lying west of Highway 97 between 62nd and 74th Avenues, extending from Osoyoos Baptist Church to the new fire hall.
In 2009, Oliver and Osoyoos teamed up to produce a report on affordable housing.
Prior to this study, the town had an Osoyoos Affordable Housing Task Force, including volunteer citizens, a councillor and a town planner.
That task force flagged issues, that ultimately led to a Town of Osoyoos Policy Manual on affordable housing in March 2010 as well as a plan for developing SE Meadowlark.
“The first priority of the town is to assist current and future working households, especially younger families, who face financial barriers to obtaining affordable housing,” the policy manual said.
It called for targeted assistance to these households to promote economic growth, diversification and to contribute to a younger and more socially sustainable community.
The town recognized that its own resources would be required, along with participation of the private sector.
In order to get the land in SE Meadowlark removed from the agricultural land reserve (ALR) in stages, the town has agreed to develop this land at a medium density of at least 30 units per hectare and to set aside at least 15 per cent as affordable, or “near market” housing.
“Near-market” is a term used to describe affordable rental and owned housing that is built by the private sector with modest government incentives.
It is aimed at moderate-income working families.
It is distinct from “social housing” which has high levels of government subsidy, usually by the province, and which is aimed at disadvantaged, low-income, or otherwise vulnerable households.
But the economic downturn, followed by delays in getting the new fire hall off the ground, meant development of SE Meadowlark stalled.
Local developer David Perehudoff has been trying without success to negotiate a deal with council to purchase the remainder of the 3.23-acre Richter property, which the town purchased for $2.3 million for the new fire hall. He says he wants to develop affordable housing.
Although neither Perehudoff, council or town administration will discuss details of the failed negotiations, which were conducted in camera, the Osoyoos Times has learned that a major sticking point was disagreement over the value of the lots.
When Perehudoff proposed at an open budget consultation meeting on Jan. 18 to build 35 affordable units in SE Meadowlark outside of the Richter property, Mayor Sue McKortoff told him the town’s first priority is to develop the Richter property.
But that effort hasn’t gone well either.
When the town put out a call in early 2015 for an “expression of interest” from developers to purchase and develop the Richter property, there were no takers.
This led the town to consider being its own developer.
A subsequent meeting with local contractors and realtors, to which Perehudoff wasn’t invited, also came up empty.
Youngberg says the town needs to come up with a formula that will work for everybody in order to get the land developed.
“Once we do come up with that formula that is attractive to local contractors – and the issue is that we can’t seem to get that formula worked out – then it’s going to satisfy the town and our local taxpayers and investors/developers,” said Youngberg. “We just don’t have that formula.”
The SE Meadowlark plan, developed in 2010 and revised in 2013, notes that “it is widely accepted that some local government incentives are needed to attract willing developers to build affordable housing,” suggesting this could be in the form of waiving or reducing development cost charges and building permit fees.
McKortoff, however, said – in the context of the talks with Perehudoff – that she’s reluctant to waive fees.
“I don’t think that is a sensible way to proceed,” she said. “But I guess we haven’t really looked at Southeast Meadowlark in detail yet because we were trying to deal first with the Richter property.”
Another obstacle has been the lack of an affordable housing authority with citizen volunteers who would identify candidates for affordable housing, said Alain Cunningham, the town’s director of planning and development.
Michael Ryan, a former Osoyoos councillor was named in May 2014 to head up an affordable housing authority, but it never got off the ground as the last council got busy with other issues and Ryan chose not to run in the November 2014 municipal election.
Ryan, however, remains passionate about the need to attract affordable housing and says it would help to raise enrolment in both schools.
“I think the need for affordable housing is obvious,” Ryan said. “The only things that recently have been selling are houses that are really beyond their lifespan and require major upgrades.”
The problem, he said, is that property appraisals in Osoyoos are considerably higher than in comparable communities in the South Okanagan.
“So much of our housing has been recreational housing and second homes,” he said, describing this as “a blessing and a curse.”
The blessing is that it’s helped Osoyoos to become a resort community.
“But it means that during the winter we’ve got dozens and dozens of homes, condos and so on that are sitting empty or being rented out to winter visitors,” he said.
Meanwhile, there is almost no affordable housing available for young families wanting to move to Osoyoos and businesses such as resorts have a hard time attracting employees to live here as a result.
“We have young people who simply can’t raise families here unless they work for government or schools or they are self-employed professionals,” said Ryan. “I think affordable housing would definitely change our demographic and make us a much more attractive community. We’ve got a lot going for us. If we could add affordable housing to our mix, I think we would be the town to watch.”
The SE Meadowlark Area Plan, which aims to address the shortage of affordable housing, takes a similar position to Ryan.
“As is typical for a successful resort community, Osoyoos has experienced a large influx of second home buyers and affluent retirees that have helped inflate house prices,” the plan said.
This has made rental rates high, compounded by a limited stock of rental housing because builders get higher returns from tourist accommodation rentals and higher-priced homes.
The plan goes on to say that this raises barriers to younger people wishing to locate to Osoyoos, potentially depriving the town of permanent wage earners including in the retail and tourism sectors, trades, business people, health care and education workers and other professionals.
A small condominium apartment may be affordable for working couples, but it is not a suitable environment for children, the plan says.
Councillor Mike Campol agrees that affordable housing could be a factor in attracting younger families to Osoyoos, but he said it’s necessary to look at the bigger picture and consider what kind of economic development the town hopes to lure.
Campol said he thinks transportation would make the area unattractive for manufacturing, but he thinks there are possibilities to attract information technology (IT) as well as hospitality and tourism training and education facilities.
He said affordable housing is less likely to make a difference for existing businesses and IT software jobs, but it could have a big impact for the tourism industry.
“We’ve got management being relocated here for a restaurant, wineries and hotels, and management positions that aren’t high-paying jobs,” Campol said. “I think you need to look at housing under $350,000 to be able to bring those families here. So I think it’s a factor. But I think overall we have to target specific industries and figure out how we market it.”
Cunningham, the planning and development director, acknowledges that with employees now being hired to staff the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver, it would have been more ideal if Osoyoos already had housing in place to attract employees and their families here.
He said attracting younger families and the school enrolment question are linked. Younger families will bring more school-age children, but when they consider coming here, they will consider whether or not there is a high school.
McKortoff wonders about the timing.
“I keep thinking to myself, is this the right time to be bringing in affordable housing for young families,” she said. “We maybe need to wait till we see if we can get the school issue solved first.”
If families move here and the school closes, “you’re kind of stuck,” she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
