The Village of Telkwa has completed a component required under their Official Community Plan, a Telkwa Housing Needs Assessment.
The document, introduced to the Telkwa council at a recent council meeting, outlines several areas that need to be addressed regarding housing in the community.
Among the report’s key findings is that the low percentage of seniors living in Telkwa indicates “residents are moving to locations that have more access to centrally located health services and other amenities not currently found in Telkwa.”
The report also notes that with a high percentage of people not planning to look for a home in the next two years (95 per cent), the Village should look at information on things like incentive programs for retrofitting existing homes.
“The Village of Telkwa has a limited tax base and financial resources and will need to identify creative strategies to deal with both current and future affordable housing issues,” the report stated. “This requires community-based approach involving private and public implementation.”
Short term actions identified in the report includes hosting a community-based homeowners fair to assist Telkwa “in building community capacity, assist in reducing energy use and associated housing costs thus providing healthier housing.”
The report also says that including provisions for secondary suites in land-use planning documents would provide residents with an affordable housing option, as well as providing secondary income to homeowners.
Medium term actions (two to five years) include density bonuses for future development, and creating senior co-housing.
This report is available to view in its entirety on the Village of Telkwa website at telkwa.com, under the Community Plan tab.