Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) is at risk of losing a portion of the $1.5 million federal Housing Accelerator Fund unless targets are met by 2027.
The municipality has received three instalments of the grant since it was awarded in 2024, with $381,449.65 allotted in the final installment. A portion of the funding, $1,144,348, has already been to the municipality so far, according to SPMRM chief administrative officer Deanna Campbell.
The grant funding, allocated by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), is earmarked to improve local housing supply, and while a number of initiatives have been successfully completed, one key factor, meeting a housing supply growth target, is still lagging.
Those growth targets include 281 permitted housing units, an additional 184 missing middle housing units and 69 other multi-unit housing units. The municipality’s agreement with CMHC also stipulates that 38.74 per cent of the housing supply growth will be affordable units.
According to the HAF funding update brought to council March 24, 115 total net new units have been permitted, 166 short of the agreement. Of those, one is a single detached unit and 114 are affordable units. Four of the 114 affordable units are categorized as missing middle units.
By the end of year three of the HAF agreement, which is next year, unit totals “must align with the commitments in the municipality’s HAF Agreement,” the report states.
The report cites the foreign buyers ban and “external market factors” as main hurdles preventing growth.
The federal law banning foreign property buyers came into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and was intended to curb the purchase of Canadian homes by non-Canadians to increase housing supply.
The legislation accommodates recreation properties outside of a census metropolitan area (CMA), which comprise a core population. Adjacent municipalities are included in a CMA when there is “a high degree of integration with the core, as measured by commuting flows derived from data on place of work from the previous Census Program,” according to Statistics Canada.
Sun Peaks’ village is included in Kamloops’ CMA, and two other B.C. resorts, Apex and Silver Star, are also impacted.
“The loss of the important non-Canadian buyer market, by the mistaken inclusion of Sun
Peaks in the foreign buyers ban has dramatically impacted the sales of development units at Sun Peaks and as a result stopped the creation of additional projects for both real estate and resort growth initiatives for the entire community,” the update states.
While the municipality has a good working relationship with CMHC, there is “a significant amount of pressure from them to meet our housing requirements,” she said.
“This is a heavily, heavily scrutinized funding program from the federal government,” she added.
CMHC has allowed the municipality to submit documentation, including letters and advocacy work to prove the impact of the federal foreign buyers ban, and work being done to obtain an exemption.
The municipality has and continues to advocate for an exemption through federal government lobbying efforts and communications to all levels of government and various ministries, according to the update.
“I continue to communicate with Deputy Minister [Paul] Halucha from the federal ministry of housing,” Mayor Rob O’Toole told SPIN via email. “Those communications have been positive.”
O’Toole has an upcoming meeting with a B.C. cabinet minister during which he said he hopes to gain provincial government support for an exemption.
“We have two more provincial minister meetings pending and hope this will lead to the province advocating on our behalf with the federal government,” he added.
Areas of improvement
Since the August 2024 report to council, SPMRM has completed amendments to the Development Cost Charges Bylaw to support future employee housing.
Development Cost Charges pay for infrastructure such as sewer, water, drainage, parks and roads. Amendments to the bylaw were required to incorporate additional financial costs to meet planned developments and assist with the development of employee housing.
The bylaw also allows the municipality to waive all or a portion of DCCs for non-profit or affordable housing projects.
The municipality also rezoned parcels 34, 74, 15 and 69 to support non-market affordable employee housing.
“This will allow increased housing density on a single lot including promoting “missing middle” housing forms,” the update states.
New staff accommodation on Parcel 37, located between Sun Peaks Road and McGillivray Creek, is almost complete, according to the update.
Parcel 74 is the current site of the future BC Builds development located at 1180 Sun Peaks Rd. This development is currently under construction and will bring in 110 units with 30 per cent of those units below market.
The municipality has spent $170,272 on land and contributions to the Sun Peaks Housing Authority, with an additional $230,000 earmarked for further land acquisition for future housing development, Campbell explained.
Approximately $145,166 has been dedicated to water projects.
“Our wastewater projects are always in flux in terms of how we are funding them as we often rely on grants. With the lack of recent grant funding opportunities, we are revisiting the allocation of HAF funding to wastewater projects,” she said.
Initially, approval of the Official Community Plan was identified as an initiative, stated in the 2024 report to council.
However, “due to delays beyond the municipality’s control,” this could not be completed in the set timeline, prompting an amendment to substitute this initiative with density bonusing, allowing developers the opportunity to build to a higher density in exchange for providing affordable housing.
What’s next?
The municipality’s final installment of funding is tied to the successfully
meeting building permit forecasts in the final year. The money from the fund must be spent by 2028.
“The risk remains, that if we do not meet our targets, we may not receive this final allocation or funding or a reduction in the funding,” the update states.
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