By Vanessa Broadbent

Oliver Chronicle

When the Okanagan Correctional Centre opened last year, it came with new jobs. And with the new jobs came new families moving to Oliver.

But while those families had found work in town, finding somewhere to live wasn’t as easy.

That’s what Oliver resident Aimee Grice found when she was running for a seat on city council last winter. Affordable housing became a large part of her campaign platform.

“I was talking to members of the community to see what was important and that was a piece that kept coming up.”

Grice said that while she was campaigning by going door to door in town, she met families that moved to the area for work, but couldn’t find suitable housing.

“So many of those families are living in their travel trailers right now or are travelling from Westbank because there’s an issue of affordability and then the vacancy issue as well. There’s not the actual physical spaces for people to move into that are affordable.”

Not landing a seat on council didn’t stop Grice from wanting to address the lack of affordable housing in Oliver, but she knew that she didn’t have the expertise to do it on her own.

So she posted on Facebook asking if anyone would be interested in sitting on a committee. And people were.

The committee, which has now had three meetings, has eight members.

They’ve also had support and input from other community members and groups, including town councillors Dave Mattes and Larry Schwartzenberger, Jo Tanner of Oliver Missions and Marieze Tarr, executive director of Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre.

They’re hoping to include someone from the Osoyoos Indian Band as well.

The next step is for the committee to form a society. This will give them more access to apply for grants and available properties. Exactly what kind of grants and property they’ll be looking at is unsure.

Originally, Grice wanted to focus on creating housing for working families, but the lack of affordable housing affects more than just one specific group.

“We know that there’s a broader need than that but our feeling was we can’t tackle the entire problem all at once.”

So now the plan is to approach it on a “project by project basis.” But what project they’ll start on is dependant on where the funds come in first.

Parks and Recreation Manager Carol Sheridan, who is also the head of the Healthy Living Coalition, sat in on a committee meeting and shared her input on working with grants.

“She said sometimes you just have to go with the flow and see where money and land becomes available, where land becomes available and go with that,” Grice said.

So now the committee is looking at various kinds of housing, including “tiny houses” or modular homes for families, or an apartment building or cohousing for seasonal workers.

“We’re flexible in our business plan, depending on what parcel of land we end up finding.”

Regardless of what kind of funds or land is acquired, condensed or shared living space is a likely possibility.

Grice credits this to a shift in national culture, not just a lack of space in Oliver.

“So many of us have this ideal that we’re going to grow up and we’re going to buy a house and we’re going to have our four walls and fence around our yard and it’s just for us. That’s just not as attainable for people.

“Everybody is thinking outside of the box and realizing that if we just try to do what’s already been done, that’s not working.”

How long it’ll take to build something is unclear. Grice said there could be a need to do feasibility studies, which could take years. Or a developer could find a business plan the committee comes up with appealing, and take it on and complete it soon.

But before that happens, Grice said there are “a lot of pieces that need to come together first.”

So to tackle those pieces, the group is splitting into subcommittees, including land acquisition, financing, forming a business plan, forming a society and community consultation.

Grice and the rest of the committee are still looking for more support from the community, whether that be anyone interested in joining as a society member or just willing to share a bit of knowledge.

“We are looking for a couple of community members who feel like they have an area of expertise to offer to the committee or society.”

Grice said she’s excited to expand on the group she already has.

“I think we’ve got a really committed group of people,” she said. “I think we can make a difference.”