The City of Langford has proposed to expand eligibility for its Affordable Housing Program to all Armed Forces members posted to Greater Victoria.

Up until yesterday’s announcement, to qualify for the City of Langford’s award-winning Affordable Housing Policy, an applicant must have either been a resident of Langford for a minimum of 2 years, or a current employee working in Langford, with a preference given to current residents of Langford. Soon the number of eligible people may be increased four-fold, as a proposal to allow all Canadian Armed Forces personnel posted to
Greater Victoria (regardless of where they are serving) to be able to apply and be considered for housing under the program was announced last night.

Though not on the agenda prior to the meeting, the item was added at the beginning of last night’s Planning, Zoning, and Affordable Housing Committee meeting at Langford City Hall. Langford Planner Matthew Baldwin explained the rationale behind the proposal: “This is to recognize that any member of the armed forces is working for the residents of Langford.” Langford Councillors Lillian Szpak and Denise Blackwell expressed support for the proposal, with both of them indicating they had grown up living the life of a “military brat.”

The Langford Affordable Housing Program requires that “all new rezonings for ten or more single-family residential lots shall include small lot-small house affordable lots.” Every ten lots in a subdivision application generates one affordable house, rounded down: 10-19 lot subdivisions require one affordable home, a 20-29 lot subdivision requires two, and so on.

These houses are then sold, under strict eligibility and resale requirements, for half market value, to a maximum of $160,000 (plus GST and property transfer taxes). In addition to residency and employment requirements, an applicant must be able to provide a $5000 deposit and be credit-worthy enough to be successfully pre-approved for a mortgage, yet total family income may not exceed $60,000, no one in the household may own any real estate, and total household assets may not exceed $50,000. The tight eligibility rules carefully create a narrow band of who may apply, one that eliminates the poorest of the poor (who are generally not credit-worthy and who are unlikely to be able to come up with a deposit), yet also eliminating much of the middle class (whose family income would often be too high, especially in two income households). Once an affordable house is sold to an applicant, they cannot resell it for market value for twenty-five years.

Another eligibility requirement of the program is that you must live with at least one “eligible dependent,” defined as a child under 18 or a relative with a disability. The program had previously also required purchasers to be a couple in a long-term relationship, but that requirement was recently changed to allow single people with dependents to apply.

Subdivisions of nine lots or fewer, and multi-family developments such as condominiums, are required to provide $500 per lot (or per unit, as applicable) towards an “Affordable Housing Reserve Fund,” instead of an affordable home. This fund has been growing since inception of the program with no announcements yet about what the City of Langford’s long-term intentions for the fund are. The fact that condominiums don’t produce affordable housing units, and that such multi-family developments are expected by many to form the bulk of Langford’s future growth, raises interesting questions about whether the future of the program is in developers building affordable houses, or generating funds for other affordable housing initiatives.

The final decision on awarding an affordable home is made based on a points system that attempts to determine which applicant is in the greatest need.

The Planning, Zoning, and Affordable Housing Committee recommended acceptance of the proposal, meaning it will go before Langford Council for likely approval.

View the Langford affordable housing case study here, and refer to Langford’s official Affordable Housing Program webpage here.  To discuss affordability in the south Island region on the VibrantVictoria.ca discussion forum, click here.

Steven Hurdle is the author of Inside Langford, a blog covering politics and civic events in the municipality of Langford.

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