There are 18 units at Sandalwood Court, all of which are occupied. There is also a waitlist. (Vanessa Broadbent photo)
A property on Main Street in Oliver is now an affordable housing project aimed at providing low rent for low-income families, seniors and vulnerable people.
As of May 1, Sandalwood Court, located in the 5200 block of Main Street, is owned and operated by Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre.
Marieze Tarr, Desert Sun’s executive director, said the project first surfaced last fall when BC Housing approached the organization and asked if they would be interested in managing the property.
“They didn’t want to commit because they felt they didn’t have any long-term plan or someone who was going to oversee it. They didn’t feel that it was a good fit.”
When Tarr stepped in as executive director in January, the idea was mentioned again and she didn’t let it pass.
“It was just too golden of an opportunity to give it a miss and I knew that it could create a lot of work and extra things.”
The property has 18 units – 15 one-bedroom, two two-bedroom and one family house – all of which are currently occupied.
There’s also a waitlist carried over from the previous ownership, which Tarr said the organization will honour.
Part of Desert Sun’s agreement with BC Housing included taking personal interest in the residents and the challenges they face. As a result, the organization has decided to manage the rentals internally instead of hiring a property manager.
“If we were to hire a property manager, that would really put us at arm’s length and we wouldn’t really get to know the people, we wouldn’t be there. I didn’t feel that was a good fit.”
The units are all priced significantly below local average and there are no plans to change costs.
Tarr said the biggest challenge the organization’s counsellors face is finding their clients housing they can afford.
“People need affordable places to live,” she said.
“There may be jobs but a lot of the jobs in this area are not very well paid. They might be minimum wage or just above that, and then because a place to live here is not affordable people sometimes have to make the choice between eating and paying the rent, or heating and buying food.”
Part of this is simply a lack of housing, what Tarr calls a “missing link.” While there is development, most of it is marketed towards middle- and upper-class families. Bachelor or small suites for singles or seniors is either too expensive or non-existent.
But Tarr also credits this to an increase in vacation housing. She said that with services like Airbnb becoming more popular, home owners are realizing that they can earn just as much, if not more, by renting short-term to tourists.
“A lot of people in the past would have rented out their basement suite but they now know that in the summer months they can make as much as if they rented the place through the whole year to somebody.”
BC Housing defines affordable rental housing as “housing with rents equal to, or lower than, average rates in the private-market,” meaning that Desert Sun could raise the rent at Sandalwood Court.
However, there are no plans to do so.
“We’re going to keep the rent where it’s at because that’s what people can afford and it would be really unfair to go in there and push the rent up,” Tarr said.
So far, the only plans include some minor renovations and turning a workshop on the property into a “gathering space” where seniors living on the property can practice woodwork and other projects.
At this time, there are no plans for Desert Sun to take on more housing projects.
“If the opportunity arose we would have a look at it, but I think at the moment for the agency it would be best if we just focussed on one and get this under our belt and know how to do this well before we take on something else,” Tarr said.
“We’re excited to have this new opportunity and I think that it’s such a big need in our community. We feel blessed that we were given this opportunity by BC Housing and that they secured the deal for us.”
VANESSA BROADBENT
Special to the Times
