B.C.’s Minister of Municipal Affairs was in the Okanagan on Friday to speak to local leaders.
Politicians from around the Southern Interior are meeting in Vernon, B.C., for their annual convention.
“My main message is I am here to help,” said minister Anne Kang.
“The government has your back and we are here to collaborate. We know there is a lot to do as we see communities grow.”
Her visit comes as municipalities continue to be on the front line of many of the province’s challenges, including the housing shortage and toxic drug crisis.
At the convention, B.C. United critic for municipal affairs Dan Ashton stressed, in growing communities, the province needs support not just additional housing, but also infrastructure.
Ashton said as the province pursues making single-family lots available for the development of up to four residences, the utilities and transportation infrastructure also needs to be in place.
Kang agreed infrastructure needs to keep pace saying the province is supporting that through a one-time cash injection to all local governments announced earlier this year.
Kang said that Growing Communities Fund will allow local governments to choose who they want to build their communities “whether that is in splash parks or trails or childcare.”
While many local leaders expressed gratitude for the provincial support, there are also calls for more to be done on issues like housing and homelessness.
“My belief is that there needs to be legislation for compassionate involuntary care. We see that as one of the tools that needs to be there,” said Salmon Arm mayor Alan Harrison.
“We are one of those communities with less than a one percent vacancy rate, they are saying 0.7% on the rental side, and that just makes it very very difficult,” said Vernon mayor Victor Cumming.
“If you talk to employers in town the key issue is … how do we get really good workers and to get that we need the housing. So significant things have to happen in the housing file.”
The minister said her government is acting on housing and meetings like the one she attended in Vernon are important for the province to understand what the local needs are.
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