INCLUSIONARY HOUSING – NOTICE OF MOTION

INCLUSIONARY HOUSING – NOTICE OF MOTION

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated November 8, 2023, from the Director of Development Services titled “Inclusionary Housing – Notice of Motion” be received for information.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with some background information to help inform the discussion on the November 7, 2023 notice of motion provided by Councillor Mattson which was directed to the November 14, 2023 Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting regarding a requirement for a minimum of 10% affordable housing units in all multi-family developments, including rental and strata.

TIME CRITICAL:

There are no time sensitive matters associated with this report.

BACKGROUND:

Council discussion of 10% affordable housing units in all multi-family developments date back to 2019. A chronological description of Council discussions and motions on this issue is summarized below.

July 9, 2019 CoW meeting and July 16, 2019 Council meeting

At the July 9, 2019 CoW meeting, the Committee considered a staff report on the draft Community Amenity Contribution policy. At this meeting, a member of Council added a new business item concerning 10% affordable housing.

July 9, 2019 CoW minutes discussion:

“c) Requirement for 10% Affordable Housing Units

Councillor Mattson requested that there be a requirement for developers to provide ten per cent of the units being created as affordable housing units in all new multi-family developments.

Mayor Screech noted that as part of the strategic planning process, staff are working on a housing needs analysis. The Director of Development Services suggested that this topic be revisited once the Town’s housing gaps and needs analysis has been completed as other types of needs may be identified in that work.

MOVED BY: Mayor Screech SECONDED: Councillor Kowalewich

COW-30-19 THAT the Committee recommend to Council that staff report back on the possibility of requiring 10% affordable housing units in all new multi-family developments.

“CARRIED” and also CARRIED at the July 16, 2019 Council meeting.

April 13, 2021 CoW meeting

c) Action List – 10% Affordable Housing

Report dated April 8, 2021, from the Director of Development Services.

April 13, 2021 CoW minutes discussion:

The Director of Development Services gave an overview of the report to the Committee. The Committee and the Director of Development Services discussed the Community Amenity Contributions Policy No. 6400-041 and the opportunity to amend it to include both an affordable housing amenity contribution component and to negotiate housing amenities for larger projects.

MOVED BY: Mayor Screech SECONDED: Councillor Lemon

THAT the report dated April 8, 2021 from the Director of Development Services titled “Action List – 10% Affordable Housing” be received for information.

This report considered other affordable housing contributions, such as increasing Community Amenity Contributions and cash contributions to the CRD Regional Housing Fund instead of developers providing any type of Town-administered affordable housing given that the Town does not have staff resources to administer an affordable housing program.

June 8, 2021 CoW meeting

c) Community Amenity Contributions Policy Amendment – Affordable Housing

1. Report dated June 2, 2021 from the Senior Planner

The Senior Planner gave an overview of the report to the Committee.

The Committee and staff discussed the provision of 10% affordable housing units in large rezoning developments; applicability of the proposed policy amendment to both rental and owned units; submitting collected funds to the Capital Regional District Housing Trust Fund; loss of taxation for affordable housing projects built in the municipality; whether adjustments to cash Community Amenity Contributions collected would be made retroactively to reflect affordable housing policy decisions; and the priority of affordable housing for the Town’s residents.

MOVED BY: Councillor Lemon SECONDED: Councillor Rogers

COW-24-21 THAT the Committee recommend to Council that the report dated June 2, 2021 from the Senior Planner titled “Community Amenity Contributions Policy Amendment – Affordable Housing” be referred to the Community Development Advisory Committee.

CARRIED

September 28, 2021 Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) meeting

CDAC received the report and presentation of the June 2021 report.

CDAC passed the following motions:

CDAC-03-21: THAT the Committee recommend to Council that the Community Development Advisory Committee supports the recommendation in the Community Amenity Contributions Policy to increase the community amenity contribution rate;

AND THAT staff consider looking at reductions to incentivize projects that are in line with the needs as demonstrated in the Housing Needs Assessment report.

CDAC-04-21: THAT the Committee recommend to Council that in addition to current contributions, the Town allocate a portion of the community amenity contributions collected toward the Capital Regional District’s Regional Housing Trust Fund with staff to recommend the specific amount to Council.

November 9, 2021 Committee of the Whole

c) Community Amenity Contributions Policy and the Provision of Affordable Housing

1. Report dated November 4, 2021 from the Senior Planner.

The Senior Planner summarized the report for the Committee.

COW-38-21 THAT the Committee recommend to Council that the Community Amenity Contribution Policy No. 6400-041 be amended to:

• increase the Cash Amenities target rate per detached dwelling unit or lot from $5,500 to $6,000;
• increase the Cash Amenities target rate for other types of residential uses from $3,500 to $4,000 per unit; and
• add a new policy for 10% of the amount of Cash Amenities received to be transferred to the Capital Regional District Housing Trust Fund.

MOVED BY: Councillor Rogers SECONDED: Mayor Screech

CARRIED

This motion was also adopted at the November 16, 2021 Council Meeting.

February 14, 2023 Committee of the Whole meeting

At the February 14, 2023, CoW meeting, a Councillor provided a notice of motion to the agenda stating: “The previous Council expressed an interest in pursuing a requirement for 10% of new multi-family development to be allocated for ‘affordable housing’ and prompting the following discussion and Committee motion:

b) Affordable Housing

The Committee discussed allocation of affordable housing in new multi-family developments.

The Committee and staff discussed community amenity contributions, contribution of a percentage to affordable housing, definition of affordable housing, and cooperative housing.

MOVED BY: Councillor Mattson SECONDED: Councillor Lemon

COW-09-23 THAT the Committee recommend to Council that a report be provided to a future Committee of the Whole meeting regarding options for inclusionary housing, including exploration of a requirement for a predetermined percentage of units in new multi-family developments to be affordable housing.

CARRIED

This recommendation was subsequently adopted at the February 21, 2023, Council meeting.

All of the above information and associated debates (with the exception of the CDAC meeting) are available for viewing on the Town’s website: View Royal - Council Meetings.

DISCUSSION:

After a considerable amount of work completed by staff over a two-year period (2019 – 2021) on reviewing affordable housing options in new multi-family developments, Council approved an increase in the cash amenity targets for new residential dwelling units and added a new policy for 10% of the amount of cash amenities received to be transferred to the Capital Regional District’s (CRD) Regional Housing Trust Fund. Given limited staff resources to manage affordable housing units and/or an affordable housing program, Council decided to allocate amenity contributions to CRD’s Regional Housing Trust Fund for the development of affordable housing units within the region. For example, the West Park Lane residential development adjacent to Thetis Lake Regional Park, which delivered 152 new housing units, including 44 new affordable units, was achievable with a Regional Housing Trust Fund grant. To date, the Town has contributed $163,450 of community amenity contributions to the Regional Housing Trust Fund.

At its February 21, 2023 meeting, Council passed the following motion that came from the above-described February 14, 2023 CoW meeting:

MOVED BY: Councillor Mattson SECONDED: Councillor Brown

C-29-23 THAT a report be provided to a future Committee of the Whole meeting regarding options for inclusionary housing, including exploration of a requirement for a predetermined percentage of units in new multi-family developments to be affordable housing.

Given the 2023 staff workload – in large part tied to the new Building Bylaw and Zero Carbon Step Code as well as other non-core projects, Council action items and application related work, staff have not had an opportunity to initiate a review of options for inclusionary housing. However, should Council wish to pursue and make this action item a priority, that can be prioritized in the 2024 departmental work plan.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with some background information and a chronological description of the work that staff have undertaken to date on the current notice of motion to require a minimum of 10% affordable housing units in all multi-family developments, including rental and strata.

Staff recommend that – in keeping with Council’s current motion (provided below) already on the Action List from its February 21, 2023 meeting – further research be conducted and presented to Council for consideration before additional inclusionary housing policies are established.

C-29-23 THAT a report be provided to a future Committee of the Whole meeting regarding options for inclusionary housing, including exploration of a requirement for a predetermined percentage of units in new multi-family developments to be affordable housing.