'Middle income' homes to be built at downtown Kelowna parking lot

BC’s Ministry of Housing is seeking housing proposals for a parking lot in downtown Kelowna in an effort to “fast-track” more rental homes.

A news release says 1428 St. Paul Street is one of eight pre-zoned sites on public lands that have been added to the BC Builds property list to deliver more homes to middle-income earners.

The program, which was launched in February 2024, provides low-interest financing, grant funding and leverages government, community or non-profit-owned and “underused” land, the release says.

“We’re dealing with a housing crisis and governments must play an active role together with non-profits and the private sector to build as much housing as possible,” says Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing in the release.

“BC Builds is getting British Columbia back into the game of building middle-income housing as quickly as possible by connecting public lands with homebuilders and non-profit housing operators.”

Project proposals are now being accepted for properties in Kamloops, Kelowna, Elkford, Sooke, North Cowichan, and Langley.

Through the program, residential developers and housing operators will be connected to the landowners of each pre-zoned site through a new online platform on the BC Builds website while officials with BC Builds facilitates partnership agreement and lease terms between landowners and developers.

Each site will be developed into homes for people and families with middle incomes wth a goal of ensuring people don't spend more than 30% of their income on rent, the release says.

Under the program, household incomes for families with children must not exceed the “75th income percentile,” which BC Housing based on Statistics Canada figures.

The 2024 figure is $191,910.

Families without children must not exceed the same percentile and must not earn more than $131,950 this year.

The program has ambitious goals of seeing projects move through the concept phase to construction within 12-18 months, rather than the “typical” three to five years, which the province says is accomplished by streamlining development process and having BC Builds officials working “collaboratively” with landowners, local governments developers throughout the process.

“As an early adopter of pre-zoning urban centre locations for multi-unit residential development, the City of Kelowna is very pleased to see this municipally owned property receive support from BC Builds,” says Tom Dyas, mayor of Kelowna.

“Helping middle income residents secure housing they can afford in the areas where they live and work is key as our city continues to evolve.”

According to BC’s Ministry of Housing, the eight sites are joining the 8,000 to 10,000 homes for middle income households that are to be built over the next five years.

The program is supported by a $2 billion low-cost financing from the provincial government with an overall commitment of $950 million for the program and $2 billion from the federal government.