By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
A new town hall with integrated healthcare centre and rental apartment units was one of the solutions to Osoyoos’ housing crisis volunteered by one of the council hopefuls at the Times Chronicle All Candidates Town Hall Forum on Monday.
Touching on an issue that has attracted the ire of some on social media posters in recent weeks, council candidate Dr. Johnny Cheong attracted loud applause from the audience when he said: “we don’t need $10 million to build a new town hall, I think we can all agree on that.”
Instead Cheong suggested a re-imagining of what a town hall could look like, but offered no inkling of what this strategy might cost. He said among other things this could include “an attached medical and health services wing”.
It could give Desert Sun Counselling a new home, he said, and “on top of that we build three or four stories of staff housing… with proven partners so that we can provide the adequate staff housing that we need.” By way of example he pointed to Watermark Resort, Walnut Beach, and Spirit Ridge Resort as potential partners.
He also suggested having a conversation with M’akola Housing Society whose focus is on providing safe, affordable and appropriate homes primarily for Indigenous people and families. M’akola is the organization behind the low income housing project behind No Frills in Oliver and one of many projects they’ve been involved in around the province.
“We use those resources from proven organizations to create solutions and bring those solutions to Osoyoos in a pragmatic and fiscally responsive manner,” he added.
The Times Chronicle All Candidates Town Hall Forum drew over 450 people on Monday evening to hear the views of candidates for the positions of mayor and councillors in the upcoming municipal election.
Don Urquhart photo
Cheong also suggested looking at the other designated resort towns, of which Osoyoos is one of the 14 in the province. As an example he suggested looking at Whistler, adding that it is substantially larger (slightly more than twice the size of Osoyoos) where he said, they operate a system by which people pay by a percentage of their income and that allows those who are in staff housing or new to town “to have a leg up”.
Incumbent Jim King expressed his surprise that the topic of a new town hall had even come up, saying it “isn’t on anybody’s drawing board anywhere that I’m aware of.”
King also noted that the Whistler example was problematic because a lot of housing was built on Crown land for the winter Olympics, which following that was turned over to the town for housing.
“So if we could create a big event and get some federal or provincial funding it would be a great idea,” King said, evoking chuckles from the audience.
The problem with low cost housing projects he highlighted, is that neighourbours of such developments often slide into the ‘NIMBY’, or Not In My Backyard, mindset.
Council candidate Wes Greves brought a dose of reality to the panel by noting that having lived in Osoyoos for eight years he was fortunate enough to have had a year-round rental, until recently. “I’ve sort of lost that so I understand the struggle of trying to find something that’s actually affordable in this town,” he said.
He supported the idea of looking at other communities, but important for him is “just taking action, actually doing something about it instead of just talking about it.”
Incumbent Mayor Sue McKortoff noted that a 40-unit multi-family building and a five-unit townhouse complex with various sized rental units was approved earlier this year. The development marks one of the first under the new Official Community Plan with its emphasis on higher density and increased rental components.
McKortoff also noted that fresh from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) BC Housing has provided the town with information on how the town can apply for new housing projects.
