"In the matter of family housing, the lack of dedicated and affordable family housing in the Creston area should be the highest concern for the community.”
So says Creston Valley Affordable Housing Needs Update, a report prepared for the Creston Valley Community Housing Society (CVCHS) by Alan B. Campbell of Penticton-based Casita Consulting Ltd.
The report is called an update because, since data from the 2010 census is not yet available, Campbell had to use three other sources as a basis for his survey.
One is the 2008 needs survey report done for the CVCHS by Kootenay Employment Services (KES). Another is the Columbia Basin Trust’s 2008 State of the Basin Report, and the third is Affordable Housing Assessment and Strategic Planning: The Columbia Basin and Boundary Regions, B.C., dated March 2009, by George Penfield, regional innovation chair (retired) at Selkirk College.
To supplement this material, Campbell got “interim updates” from BC Statistics, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora-tion (CMHC) and the Interior Health Authority. He also contacted representatives of existing affordable housing operations in Creston and attended the open house sponsored by the CVCHS on July 6, 2011. There he distributed a questionnaire to gather perceptions on the need for affordable housing. This “led to several meaningful discussions about the current state of housing in Creston.”
Campbell’s report discusses the need for all kinds of affordable housing, that is, for seniors, families and those with special needs. However, he emphasizes that at present, “Creston has no affordable, safe and secure family housing.” He goes on to say, “Based on agency estimates and the Census 2006 data, it can be suggested that there is justification for between 30 up to 120 affordable family rental units for the Creston area.”
“Affordable,” he notes, means that rent and utilities cost no more than 30 per cent of the tenants’ pre-tax income. But to be “acceptable,” a housing unit must also be “adequate” (free of mould and containing the “reasonably expected suite of services … that work dependably”) and “fire safety should be demonstrated.”
Campbell points out that affordable housing that meets these criteria is not only essential for those families that need it if they are to have a decent, healthy standard of living. It is also, he notes, of benefit to the community as a whole.
Studies have shown that families that move from living conditions that most of us would regard as intolerable into decent affordable housing benefit in many ways. For example, there is less stress and unhappiness in the household, the children usually do better in school and in most cases there is a reduction in the level of crime.
What’s more, says Campbell, Creston “needs to secure an affordable housing base for those people of working age in order to sustain the Creston community, and to encourage younger people of working age to move to Creston to staff the suppliers and service providers without whom the town and area will not prosper.”
The CVCHS has been canvassing ways and means of building a number of affordable family housing units in Creston. It has received “seed money” for its explorations from the Creston Valley Gleaners Society, the Columbia Basin Trust and CMHC to enable it to hire a consultant and has looked at several potential sites, including Pioneer Villa and the former Endicott centre.
If its hopes are to be fulfilled, says CVCHS president Alexandra Ewashen, it “will need widespread and active community support. …
“Since my return to Creston six years ago I have been astounded by the generosity of the citizens of this valley. When some have said, ‘It can’t be done,’ I have witnessed formal and informal partnerships and collaborations arise which have demonstrated time and time again it can and is being done. I know individuals, small groups and large organizations will come together to ensure affordable family housing is built in Creston.”
— CRESTON VALLEY COMMUNITY HOUSING SOCIETY