The Central Okanagan’s housing shortage is expected to be exacerbated by the McDougall Creek wildfire.
This works out to 290 starts a year, well below the 386 housing starts Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. data reports West Kelowna seeing last year.CMHC figures indicate that the majority of housing starts last year were for purchase, with just 90 units intended for the rental market, or three less than the number West Kelowna says it requires annually. Just 4 per cent of housing units are in the rental market, versus 9 per cent province-wide.
Key barriers to creating additional housing to address local needs include the rising development costs that the report says, "make it difficult -- and in some cases impossible -- to get nonmarket and rental projects off the ground." A limited land base contributes to the high cost of development, while municipal approval processes add time.
RDCO chief administrative officer Sally Ginter said the district has taken some “learnings” for the recovery to the 2021 White Rock Lake fire into account.