Movers and shakers needed

Movers and shakers needed By JORDAN NiCURITY Wed, June 13, 2007 http://www.dailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=48904

The Social Planning Council is looking for “the movers and shakers” of Vernon to volunteer to become members of a new land trust board. “What we really need are the champs of the legal, financial, real estate and development fields to step forward,” said Annette Sharkey, executive director of the Social Planning Council. “It‘s a way to create a legacy in the community,” she said. According to Sharkey, the purpose of a land trust is to acquire and hold land that is to be used for “attainable housing projects”. The land trust society keeps the land, making sure that it will always be used for affordable housing. “The accepted definition of affordable housing is that no more than 30 per cent of your income is spent on rent or a mortgage,” said Sharkey, “That can be pretty tough to find.” “It‘s exciting because it works towards a long-term solution,” said Sharkey, adding that young families, young people who have recently completed school, seniors and people with low incomes are all struggling to find an affordable place to live in Vernon. “The idea is to meet a need that is not being met by the current market.” The concept of land trusts tasked with creating attainable housing is relatively new, especially in Canada. “This is just starting in Canada; it‘s a new approach and a great chance for Vernon to be on the cutting edge of housing solutions,” said Sharkey, “There will be a lot of interest around the country in how this goes.” The trust will be looking towards a similar land trust society in Calgary for guidance. The Calgary society has agreed to help out by providing their business plan and other expertise. The Calgary land trust has used donated land to build townhouses and homes for people with disabilities, a model which will be somewhat modified for Vernon. “The need here is for higher density housing such as apartments. We‘ll need to put more housing (than Calgary) on the land we will have,” said Sharkey. Sharkey hopes to have a board in place by the end of June. “Once the board is in place we could start right away. It‘s a very exciting opportunity to create a longer term solution for housing issues in Vernon.”