Baby steps.
On Monday Delta council adopted a couple of changes to bylaws making it easier for secondary suites to be built in our communities. While this on its own is not going to solve a housing crisis in Delta, it will at least help to offer much needed choice for people that need it.
Delta was the only city in the region with restrictive measures in place that limited parking configurations and lot dimension based on width. Now at least, these hinderances are gone and home owners may apply to city staff to undertake the process if they so choose.
There will be no opening of any kind of the floodgates on this and we should not expect some sort of massive migration to our fair city. Rather, it is a small concession and helps to validate the fact that housing options are needed to keep our city vibrant and viable.
It was heartening to hear from many young people in the virtual public hearing who spoke eloquently about their situations. When I was their age and looking for places to live while working and going to school, I don’t recall having issues finding a place to live. I was lucky and I guess it was the economy of the day that made entering the great big world relatively easy all those years ago.
Not so easy for the 20 and 30-somethings of today. One only has to glance through Craigslist, or the Barbican Properties website to get a sense of the daunting reality of the housing crisis today. There is little choice available which is only serving to drive rental prices higher contributing to an already difficult situation.
Secondary suites offer choice for people at various stages in their lives. They are generally not considered long term solutions but rather fill a void on several levels. With many young people unable to purchase a home, this solution affords opportunity to move back home if they need to. It also provides a chance for home owners to generate extra income to help with retirement, or to assist with paying down a mortgage.
On the flip side, young people and families wishing to buy a home may factor secondary suite revenue into their mortgage applications. This may be the new normal and mirror situations in many regions of the world other than North America.
I believe it is very important to keep young people within our midst.
Congratulations to the two dozen or so young citizens who articulated their support for secondary suites on Monday night. Your engagement in important civil discourse is encouraging and gives me the sense that we are in good hands politically down the road.