Revelstoke Housing Initiatives
The new council elected last October made it clear that housing was a top priority, and since then, city staff have been hard at work addressing our current housing crisis. Here are just some of the initiatives that the City has undertaken since:
Zoning amendments to allow for secondary suites and other detached accessory dwellings for long term occupancy
Amendments to zoning bylaws to restrict the use of residential properties for short term rentals
Adoption of a Council Policy to provide guidance on short term rentals enforcement and outline that new short term rentals in the community are generally not supported
Adoption of a new Official Community Plan in July 2022 that focuses on enabling higher density development throughout the community to see diversified housing forms and improved affordability across the housing spectrum
Adoption of a Housing Action Plan in August 2022: Identified municipal lands that could support non-market housing and adopted policies to outline the process for
1. The disposition of municipal lands for non-market housing, and,
2. Financial support from the City for non-market housing Adopted a Tenant Protection Policy that requires potential developers to create a Tenant Relation Plan
Adopted new development approval procedures that streamline the process and expedite home building
Hosted a Housing Summit with resort communities to share strategies the development of non-market housing
Allocated $100k to Revelstoke Community Housing Society from Provincial Grant Funding
Applied to CMHC’s Housing Accelerator Fund for financial support over 4 years to add housing to the community
Exploring a Revelstoke Housing Authority by initiating a feasibility analysis of local non-market housing entities
Key stakeholders and the City are coming together to systematically address Revelstoke’s housing crisis, but this only the beginning. The community will require dedicated energy and significant resources to move the dial on housing affordability.
