Photo: Village of Salmo

A housing task force is exploring ways to bring workforce housing to Salmo, either by building it directly or establishing new policies supporting its development.

Community Futures Central Kootenay is currently considering partnerships with Nelson and other local housing initiatives to establish more workforce housing in the area.

During a Salmo village council meeting on March 11, councillors discussed the need for more concrete answers before committing to a partnership.

“I asked a lot of questions of, 'How does that work?'” said Salmo Mayor Diana Lockwood. “Because there's no legislation on workforce housing.”

Lockwood noted that workforce housing does not necessarily require residents to work within the Salmo area, which she said raised her concerns on how enforcement would play out.

“Somebody could say, 'I've retired, and I want to stay here.' So with the legislation the way it is, even if you had a written contract, you wouldn't be able to remove them if needed.”

Workforce housing is designed to support middle-income earners who struggle to afford market rent rates but who don’t quite qualify for low-income housing programs.

“Area G can't say they're going to build 25 apartments right here because they don't have the infrastructure that a municipality has. So, in the Local Government Act (LGA), it doesn't allow them to do that,” said Lockwood.

The LGA provides municipalities with a framework for land use, infrastructure development and community services.

Lockwood acknowledged that the housing would need to be zoned as a multi-unit residential designation that is not tied to a specific building type to adhere to the current requirements.

Many local advocacy groups have been pushing for changes to the LGA to allow electoral areas to have a greater role in local housing developments.

“Making changes to the LGA isn't a simple or easy process,” said Salmo chief administrative officer (CAO) Derek Kwiatkowski.

“There is a significant difference in what is allowed between municipalities such as Salmo, rural districts and regional districts. Particularly when it comes to property development.”

Kwiatkowski said that he believes that due to the stage of the proposal, the council has requested to be presented with more information in order to decide how to collaborate.

“So that's really what the mayor was speaking to is that the difference between what municipalities and urban municipalities can do for development versus regional districts.

“There’s a slight different framework.”

Council said that they are waiting for a more detailed plan from the workforce housing task force before making a decision.