Secondary suites

It’s not quite that high.

Statscan says 12% of lived in residential units are suites, or 590-units. Let’s say at the high end it’s 2 people per suite (likely lower), which works out to 1,180 people out of 12,235, or just under 10%. Even if it’s 3 people per suite, that’s still less than 15%.

StatsCan can't find you if you do not admit on the census you harbour an illegal suite.

It’s not quite that high.

Statscan says 12% of lived in residential units are suites, or 590-units. Let’s say at the high end it’s 2 people per suite (likely lower), which works out to 1,180 people out of 12,235, or just under 10%. Even if it’s 3 people per suite, that’s still less than 15%.

That math then, if you use it, says theres probably 5000 SFH or non-suite homes (some townhouses up there, IIRC) in North Saanich. Is that about right?

...To start, 42 new full-time positions will prioritize housing that most urgently needs to be built...Once those positions are filled, the plan is to to increase the team to 203 positions

More bureaucracy always speeds up the process. 

https://www.timescol...permits-6384624

Spending 5 million more a year of our money to make our lives more affordable! 

More bureaucracy always speeds up the process. 

https://www.timescol...permits-6384624

Wrong link....

https://www.youtube....h?v=7xNnRBksvOU

When we moved from physical sign-off approvals to "e-approvals" in the BC Public Service, the amount of work for administrative staff at least doubled.

When we moved from physical sign-off approvals to "e-approvals" in the BC Public Service, the amount of work for administrative staff at least doubled.

A few years before I retired, an entirely separate electronic approvals tracking system was established that duplicated about 75% of the information that continued to be simultaneously entered into the long established correspondence tracking system (aka CLIFF). At least 2 full-time staff at the MoH were employed to monitor and maintain the e-approvals system.

In a report to an affordable housing committee meeting in 2019, Saanich staff estimated one in two of these houses already contained a suite. Within the same year, staff reported to council that only 195 (1.1 per cent) of homes in Saanich had a licensed suite.

And therein lies the problem. Without licensing, there is no assurance minimum building standards have been met in these suites risking the health and safety of both tenants and neighbours.

Faulty wiring, asbestos, mould, an inadequate number of exits, even the absence of smoke detectors could all exist. The absence of licensing also means the landlord is not required to provide on-site parking.

______________________

Further, by not licensing the homes with suites, municipal taxes are not being collected from the homeowner on the additional residents living on their property.

Yet these additional residents draw on Saanich’s municipal services, drive on our roads, may need police assistance and use the libraries.

Is it any wonder why Saanich’s taxes went up 6.67 per cent in 2022 and have risen another 6.8 per cent in 2023? If the provincial government needs to revise the laws surrounding how municipal taxes are determined, switching from a per property basis to a resident and tenant formula, now is the time to do it.

I’m confident municipalities will be involved in permitting any redeveloped properties where housing is replaced and therefore safety and taxing issues will be addressed.

https://www.timescol...housing-6829792

I think there are lots of holes in this letter.  Is there any actual indicators that there is mold, wiring and other issues in houses with secondary suites?

The tax thing doesn't add up either.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 April 2023 - 08:02 AM.

 

...The absence of licensing also means the landlord is not required to provide on-site parking

Starlight was very nearly required not to provide (much) onsite parking. 

 

In a report to an affordable housing committee meeting in 2019, Saanich staff estimated one in two of these houses already contained a suite. Within the same year, staff reported to council that only 195 (1.1 per cent) of homes in Saanich had a licensed suite.

 

And therein lies the problem. Without licensing, there is no assurance minimum building standards have been met in these suites risking the health and safety of both tenants and neighbours.

 

Faulty wiring, asbestos, mould, an inadequate number of exits, even the absence of smoke detectors could all exist. The absence of licensing also means the landlord is not required to provide on-site parking.

 

______________________

 

Further, by not licensing the homes with suites, municipal taxes are not being collected from the homeowner on the additional residents living on their property.

 

Yet these additional residents draw on Saanich’s municipal services, drive on our roads, may need police assistance and use the libraries.

 

Is it any wonder why Saanich’s taxes went up 6.67 per cent in 2022 and have risen another 6.8 per cent in 2023? If the provincial government needs to revise the laws surrounding how municipal taxes are determined, switching from a per property basis to a resident and tenant formula, now is the time to do it.

 

I’m confident municipalities will be involved in permitting any redeveloped properties where housing is replaced and therefore safety and taxing issues will be addressed.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...housing-6829792

 

 

 

 

I think there are lots of holes in this letter.  Is there any actual indicators that there is mold, wiring and other issues in houses with secondary suites?

 

The tax thing doesn't add up either.

 

Watch for the words "progressive taxation" in the language of the more lefterly of the left populists we are suffering under here...

It's code words for the new left NDP to "tax and redistribute" for their version of fairness (called equity.) "Progressive taxation" looks for any way to redistribute, and the SF Homeowner is a favourite avatar for their hatred. Born, in part, out of envy, entitlement, and disappointment, I fear... 

Luckily, he is being ratioed.  

The province opened applications on Thursday for a $40-million low-interest loan program to help homeowners build secondary suites, as part of its efforts to generate more affordable housing in B.C.

Premier David Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon launched the three-year incentive program at Castle Building Centre on Bay Street in Vic West.

Homeowners will be offered forgivable loans for as much as 50 per cent of the total cost of renovations, up to a maximum of $40,000, to help cover construction costs for new basement suites, garden suites, or carriage or laneway homes on their properties.

“Which means that 1,000 individuals and families a year will benefit from being able to access below-market rental housing that we know is desperately needed in our communities,” said Eby.

Eby said there’s no “one silver bullet for the housing crisis,” which requires a wide array of responses from governments and communities.

Applications opened Thursday at 12:30 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis to the first 1,000 homeowners of 3,000 homeowners who are eventually expected to take advantage of the program.

Kahlon indicated that depending on the uptake, the next opening may be later this year. “This is a pilot. It’s an innovative new tool,” he said. “We’re going to see how it rolls out and if it needs to be expanded then I’ll be knocking on the Minister of Finance’s door.”

To be eligible, homeowners must be Canadian residents with a household income that does not exceed $209,420 based their tax return. The home itself cannot be assessed for more than $2.150 million in 2024.

Most incorporated municipalities and regional districts are included.

The new suite to be constructed must be a self-contained unit with its own kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area within the dwelling or on the property and cost a minimum of $20,000 to build. The loan is not available for renovations to existing suites.

The loan will be provided after work is finished and an occupancy permit has been issued. If the homeowner rents out the secondary suite at or below market rates — set by B.C. Housing — for at least five years, the loan will be forgiven — at 20 per cent each year over five years.

In Victoria, the rent must not exceed $1,400 for a one-bedroom, $1,760 for a two-bedroom or $2,035 for a three-bedroom for the loan to be forgiven.

In Nanaimo, the threshold is $1,325 for a one-bedroom, $1,821 for a two-bedroom, and $1,821 for a three-bedroom, and in Duncan, it’s $931, $1,086 and $1,650.

_______________

Dusty Delain, owner of Amity Construction, said to build a self-contained suite in a 1950s or 1970s home would cost well over $100,000, which makes the province’s $40,000 forgivable loan “a little bit of a subsidy.”

Even if renovation costs could be kept to $100,000 — $200,000 is more realistic — that’s about $1,200 a month to repay the loan and an owner could only charge $1,400 for a one-bedroom in Victoria, he said.

https://www.timescol...-suites-8690976

“Even after the five years when the government says well, you are forgiven that $40,000, the homeowner’s out of pocket,” said Delain, adding the landlord may then have tenants for whom they can’t raise the rent.

What a hair-brained scheme.  The only way it works is if you got dream tenants that are going to move out after 5 years, or maybe you have a relative you are going to move in so you can displace your tenants.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, Yesterday, 03:59 AM.