Editor's Note -- this week's Quesnel City Council column is written by Quesnel Councillor Scott Elliott who is Chair of Quesnel Council's Housing Committee. He can be reached via email here
If you have been interested in finding a home to own or rent in the Quesnel area, you may have noticed that there are some challenges in finding exactly what you’re looking for. With the housing crisis in the lower mainland, we have experienced more people moving to the north where the prices of homes are considerably lower. Throw into the mix seniors or young professionals looking for smaller footprint homes, Albertan’s moving to the Cariboo, locals needing different housing options and many other variables, you have a market that is pinched in the North Cariboo like never before.
In an attempt to address these concerns the City of Quesnel has partnered with the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) to create a Housing Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis study for the North Cariboo.
Through the RFP process, Urbanics Consultants Ltd. has been chosen to implement this important study.
A steering committee made up of regional stakeholders has been created to help guide Urbanics as it moves forward. The stakeholders that have been invited to this initiative include the: City of Quesnel, CRD, Northern Health, First Nations, construction industry, real estate, social housing, BC Housing, and seniors housing.
The work of the stakeholders is valuable not only for their specific industry or social insights but also in their ability to communicate the ongoing work with all their respective networks in the most timely and effective ways possible.
It’s imperative that the work of this study covers the full spectrum of housing needs or gaps in the North Cariboo. To that end, the scope of this project will look at everything from shelter and other social housing data to high-end market housing, and everything in between.
Other objectives will be to understand:
- current and projected population;
- demographics and household size and income; and
- housing units – currently available or anticipated and information about different units.
During this extensive project that will last until October, there will be opportunities for community stakeholders and the general public to engage in the process whether it be public forums or online questionnaires.
Our goal at the end of the Housing Needs Assessment study is to have quantifiable data that will show exactly where the needs are in the North Cariboo and an action plan to help us fill the gaps.
When you combine this project with the work of the Bylaw and Policy Committee to create a maintenance bylaw to address some sub-standard housing in Quesnel, it’s easy to see that there is a lot of work being done to address some serious issues in the North Cariboo.
Learn more: www.quesnel.ca/housing-needs
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