Housing Report Debate

by Wayne Moore - Story: 24167Nov. 20, 2006 / 5:44 pm Castanet
Kelowna City Council will wait two weeks before entering into any further discussion on a series of recommendations brought forth by the Affordable and Special Needs Housing Task Force. Task Force Chair, Councilor Norm Letnick, brought forth the eight point proposal Monday. After heated debate, City Council decided to turn the recommendations over to senior staff for their input. Staff will report back to council in two weeks. While council was generally pleased with many of the points presented, councilor Barrie Clark was disappointed. "I do not and will not support any of these recommendations. I am very disappointed the report did not touch on the number one issue which is to make it possible for people to afford their own home," says Clark. Laws, says Clark, do not solve these types of problems. He adds it is the wrong time of year to be adding more work to senior officials who are already overworked and understaffed. "We have a new city manager and other new staff. We have gaps where we cannot find employees and those we do have are in the middle of the budget process. They are too busy." Councilor Michele Rule, also a member of the task force, says she understands council is hesitant to act upon the recommendations, but says she doesn't want to see this drag on forever. "We can't wait for other levels of government to act," says Rule. She says the task force looked at lots of options. "As a task force, we feel these are the best options for Kelowna." Councilor Carol Gran, a former Provincial MLA, says it's sad that it is now up to the city to find housing for the people who live in our community. "It's incredible that senior levels of government have decided to download this issue on our city. I just hope we can do the job," says Gran. Letnick says he is pleased with the direction council has taken, but agreed with Rule. "It's good we have all had a chance to vent on this issue. Venting is good, but the time to act is now." Director of Corporate Services, David Shipclark, says staff will report back with an initial time line as to when they can provide a detailed report on each of the recommendations.