19 April 2008
Nanaimo considers new types of housing
Posted by Ryan Coffey under: Nanaimo Profile and Events .
I found this in yesterday’s issue of ‘The Province”. It’s the second article on this topic I’ve put up recently. The short of it is, Nanaimo has long been having problems with a shortage of rental accommodations and the city is still trying to figure out what to do about it. What the article doesn’t go into is just how many “unauthorized suites” are out there. While having one in the garage isn’t very common, actually to the point of my wondering why it was brought up in the article, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of houses with suites in them are not city approved. How do I know this? I see them almost every day. And to give you an idea of just how many suites are out there, I just did a check based on what’s advertised as such on the MLS. Today, there are 676 houses on the market in Nanaimo and 126 of them are advertised as having suites. Which works out to 18.6% of the houses on today’s market advertising ‘additional accommodation’.
As property prices have risen to a point where first time buyers may or may not be able to afford that cute house with a little yard as their first home, these suites have become a big selling point in a home for those who would rather do that than go the strata property route.
Ryan
Nanaimo considers new types of housing
Accessory buildings may be an option
| Daily News |
Friday, April 18, 2008
With Nanaimo’s nearly non-existent vacancy rate and escalating home prices, the city must come up with creative ways to ensure people can put an affordable roof over their heads.
The issue of whether to legalize secondary suites in accessory buildings, such as in a detached garage, will soon be put to the public in a series of open houses.
Suites are legal in Nanaimo, but they must be contained in the principal dwelling.
If the idea of accessory buildings gets political approval, suites could be allowed on corner lots, lots with lanes or on large internal lots.
The move is geared to deal with the city’s lack of rental units.
Nanaimo’s vacancy rate has hovered around one per cent for years and has left renters with few housing options. Also, with the average price of a home well over $350,000, accessory buildings would go a long way to help homeowners pay off their mortgages.
The area likely to benefit the most would be the Old City Quarter, since many of the older homes cannot accommodate regular secondary suites due to their size.
The secondary suites task force, which led the way for the legalization of secondary suites in Nanaimo several years ago, recently reviewed the issue.
“It’s really going to be a new type of housing,” said Ralph Meyerhoff of the task force. “It’s an affordable type of housing.”
While secondary suites are a common housing option in almost all B.C. municipalities, the same isn’t yet true for accessory buildings.
Of the 21 B.C. communities the task force looked at, only eight communities allow suites in accessory buildings.
The issue was debated at Monday’s council meeting. Some councillors were concerned about the added density, especially if homes were allowed to have both a secondary suite in a basement and another in an accessory building.
“We need to know what the public wants in terms of densification,” said Coun. Diane Brennan, who called the move a “necessary new direction.”
Because accessory buildings would offer renters more privacy, they aren’t necessarily going to be affordable. In Kelowna, suites outside of a house rent for more than the main dwelling.
Kelowna has also received complaints about the impact accessory buildings have on the esthetics of a neighbourhood.
Nanaimo’s planning manager, Dale Lindsay, said those issues could be addressed in design guidelines. Size and height restrictions would also likely come into play.