Buying a home in Kelowna is expensive. In 2016, the average home cost $473,780. Today, that cost is over one million dollars.
The cost of housing has a huge impact on our community and our local economy. If residents can’t afford to live here, businesses will be impacted by a labour shortage (which we are already seeing across the Central Okanagan).
City councils have a direct impact on housing affordability.
- Faster approvals mean less long-term costs passed on to home buyers
- Councils supportive of denser forms of building (town homes, condos) will be able to increase our population while bringing the cost of housing down.
- Municipalities are the only jurisdiction that can regulate AirBnB’s to ensure our community has a fair shot at long-term rentals.
- Municipalities determine the permanent growth boundary and can open up new lands where housing can be built.
If we don’t manage the cost of housing in our community, the ripple effects could be massive on our economy.