Affordable units in big development projects

MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release
November 4, 2008

Candidate Murdock wants affordable units in big development projects

Victoria – Saanich Council candidate Dean Murdock wants to set a minimum of affordable units for large development projects. Murdock told a gathering at last night’s All Candidates’ meeting at Lochside Elementary School that a 10 percent contribution of affordable units will add hundreds of new units in Saanich.

“On the doorstep, parents tell me they are concerned that their children cannot afford to live in their own community and will have to move up-Island to find housing they can afford,” Murdock said. “That’s not how you sustain an economy or a community.”

Murdock proposes that in all large projects of 10 or more units, that 10 percent would be sold at a price below market value. The title of the unit would reflect the below-market cost, and the unit must be re-sold below market cost to keep the benefit going for future owners.

“We’ve seen dozens of new projects in Saanich over the past three years,” Murdock said. “If each of those projects included 10 percent affordable units, we would have added hundreds of new affordable homes in Saanich already. We should be making up for lost time.”

Saanich now has 2,230 affordable and supportive housing units. The 2008-12 Saanich Strategic Plan calls for an incremental increase each year.