The rental housing crunch has forced the City of Vernon to restrict the activities of land owners. On Monday, council placed a moratorium on all residential strata conversions as a way of preserving existing rental units. “We are in an extremely difficult situation and some action needs to be taken,” said Coun. Barry Beardsell, who led the charge to have the moratorium initiated. The current rental rate in Vernon is 0.9 per cent, and Beardsell believes the situation could get worse if multi-family complexes are converted into strata units for individual owners. “The rental situation is so aggravated in the community.” Beardsell added that the lack of rental space is not only having a negative impact on families, but it’s making it difficult for local businesses to attract employees.
“The rental person is left totally out in the cold.” It’s not known when strata conversions will be allowed again, but a city staff report suggests it could be when the rental vacancy rate is greater than two per cent. Beardsell received support from Councillors Buffy Baumbrough and Juliette Cunningham. “We are having a difficult time getting a handle on rental accommodations. There is such a shortage of rental,” said Cunningham. Cunningham admits some property owners may not be pleased with the new policy, but the needs of the broader community must be considered. “There has to be some responsibility when you are dealing with rentals,” she said.
Opposition to the policy came from Councillors Pat Cochrane and Patrick Nicol. But their opposition primarily revolved around the fact that the policy would prevent an application that had been approved by staff and was before council Monday. “The current application has done everything in good faith,” said Cochrane. The applicant sought approval to strata title a duplex on 39th Street. Nicol believes council should have dealt with that application independently instead of covering it under the new policy. “We stopped it at the 11th hour,” said Nicol.
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