CHBA-South Okanagan going hard after workers with job board

There are plenty of great jobs available in the southern Interior for those in the residential housing construction industry.

The South Okanagan chapter of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association is doing what it can to fill those positions and ultimately bring even more affordable housing to the region. It has created an online job board for CHBA-SO members to publicize their openings.

“We’re really trying to drive people to work in our industry in the South Okanagan,” CHBA-SO executive director Sarah Taylor says. “A very big issue with the residential construction industry for a number of years now is not a lack of work. It’s a lack of employment. That is the problem. And so we are trying to help facilitate bringing people here to work.”

The job board consists of opportunities from CHBA-SO members, who are vetted by the organization before they become part of the organization. That means anyone who applies for a position will be doing so with a credible business.

“We vet them through the Better Business Bureau, we check all references, and they have to be ratified by our entire membership in order to be accepted,” Taylor says. “So there is a bit of a process. They have to be registered with workers compensation, they have to have liability, and they have to have warranty.

“People that are applying to positions know that they're applying to good, professional, reputable organizations and not just anyone on Indeed.”

If you’re thinking working for a CHBA member isn’t for you because you don’t know how to use a hammer, think again. Jobs in the residential home construction industry do not require you to know how to actually build a home. CHBA members include, for example, suppliers, insurance providers and service professionals.

The CHBA-SO covers a wide area as well, with members all the way east to Nelson and south to Osoyoos.

The organization is big on advocacy as well, working with municipal and provincial governments to improve the industry and tackle important issues like affordability.

And if more workers come to the South Okanagan, the more homes there will be. And if there are more homes, the more affordability there will be.

The CHBA-SO’s biggest event of the year, the Penticton Home and Reno Show, will be held April 2 and 3 at Penticton Trade & Convention Centre. It’s the Year of the Garden in 2022, so that will be theme of this year's event. The trade show will feature a pancake breakfast on the Sunday morning, with proceeds going to the South Okanagan Women in Need Society.

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