Photo: Contributed - Scenic Cam

Kelowna - View from Mount Royal

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Ownership housing agreements within the City of Kelowna are no longer effective and, therefore, have been rescinded by the city.

Such agreements were originally introduced by the city as a way to secure affordable housing units in exchange for allowing a developer to construct more units than would otherwise be possible under zoning regulations.

City planner Lauren Sanbrooks told council Monday that the ownership housing agreements served their purpose a few years ago when the average cost for a stratified dwelling was far above the city's starter home price.

A downward shift in the housing market has changed that.

"It is no longer difficult to find a re-sale stratified dwelling at, or below, the city's starter home price of approximately $209,000 for a strata titled dwelling," says Sanbrooks.

"Furthermore, the three requests from property owners to amend their ownership housing agreements to allow - which has now been approved by council - has indicated there is no longer a business case for the ownership housing agreement."

Sanbrooks adds that, due to complexities in the documents, significant staff time was needed to administer the agreements.

"it's nice to see we can now reduce administration time," says Mayor Walter Gray.

"Times change and I believe this is a well thought out recommendation and we have to live with reality, with less bureaucracy."

Councillor Luke Stack says, while he accepts the recommendation, it's still a sad day.

"In essence this was an attempt to try and integrate some affordable housing ownership into strata corporations. Essentially I agree with staff that what we are seeing is our policy hasn't been as effective as we had hoped," says Stack.

"It's disappointing because when you put a lot of effort into something to move it forward it's very sad to say it hasn't hit the mark. We can't hit the mark all the time, but we do our best."

There are currently 10 active ownership agreements with 38 affordable units.