Focus on Northern Housing Issues: An interview with Tim Pringle, Director of Special Programs at the Real Estate Foundation of BC

by hans peter meyer

One of the outcomes of the October 2008 “Reversing the Tide” conference in Prince George is a study of housing issues in BC’s north. The research is being done through the Communities in Transition program at the Real Estate Foundation of BC, and involves the Real Estate Institute of BC (REIBC) as a partner. Tim Pringle, Director of Special Programs at REF and responsible for CIT, describes why this is important to northern communities.

“Being able to retain or attract households, especially seniors’ households, has a significant economic multiplier effect in communities and in the region. Perhaps more important than the retirement and investment income these men and women represent is the social heritage values they embody. These values are important to long-term community quality of life.”

The northern housing research being conducted through CIT is an example of how partners, in this case REF and REIBC, are able to get "added" value by collaborating. "Sharing resources through CIT allows partners to get better research, in this case allowing for an expansion into three related research elements. This enables the partners to get a closer look at the question of how can communities retain and attract households.” The three pieces of research currently underway include: an inventory of housing stock and relative match to what people say the are needing; strategies that communities might pursue to attract and retain households; and a demonstration project involving Smart Growth on the Ground (SGOG).

“One of our case studies involves Smithers. We’re looking at the impact of amenity migration and will make some recommendations for the community to consider.” The second case study is Prince George and involves several elements. “Among other things, we’ll look at a demonstration development based on the kind of latent needs we’ve discovered, as well as a special housing service need that the Aboriginal Business Development Centre in Prince George has identified. This project has many possibilities, including: housing for seniors and disabled persons; a hostel for travelers, which could serve as an emergency shelter in the off-season. It could also include some retail and commercial space. We’re looking at the factors that will give the project enough scale to make it economically viable to build.”

Preliminary analysis is showing some anomalies - and some opportunities - in the northern housing market. “We’ve discovered that 37% of the sample say they plan to move within the next five years. Their reasons have to do with some age-related factors, ie. not wanting to shovel snow or maintain a single family dwelling or a large property. In some cases, the reasons given are health-related: they need to be closer to services.” While not all are wanting to move south, they are all wanting to move to a different kind of dwelling or dwelling location.” Without access to this kind of research, the market has continued to focus on construction of large lot, single family dwellings (SFD).

“We think that communities need to be looking at the latent demand for different kinds of housing. We don’t know if a senior wanting to move out of a SFD wants to buy a condo or strata property. But the numbers of households in the region which may not typically be attracted to SFDs - like seniors, persons with disabilities, and students - is significant. We think this appears to be a fairly sizable latent demand among home-buyers or renters for units that aren’t being built.” This is an opportunity, particularly in Prince George and other centres. “Strata, apartment, or townhouse style dwellings could be located close to commercial and service centres to provide more affordable, lower maintenance, and less auto-dependent housing and access to services. These will be attractive to a number of different buyers.”

Terrace provides an example of a builder seizing this opportunity. “Faced with his father's changing housing needs, one developer built and marketted 36 units of single-storey condos close to downtown. He did very well, and is considering doing more of this kind of housing. By working a niche market he's also providing a valuable service for the community of Terrace, helping to keep people in the community by giving them an option other than moving away.”

With most of 37% surveyed looking outside of the region to meet housing needs within five years, the impact on norther economies could be significant. There is, therefore, some urgency on the part of northern communities to develop housing strategies focused on retention. Developing new housing options will also broaden the market base. “In recent years the northern housing market has been quit active, but it will go into a slower period again. The opportunity remains for northern communites to supply the types of dwellings that local residents need.” Servicing that market will help communities retain and attract households, and generate economic activity in construction and services.

The third part of the northern housing research has to do with REIBC’s involvement as a partner in Smart Growth on the Ground in Prince George. “This is a design-based revitalization strategy for the city centre area. Through a demonstration project we will broadly determine what is economical to build, what kinds of mixed uses are possible, market demand for these uses, cost of housing, and so forth. REIBC wants our housing research to feed into this demonstration project. It will have a very applied orientation.”

“One of the mandates of the Community in Transition program is to work with various partners on projects that have valuable lessons from which they can learn. The current northern housing research is demonstrating the value of doing research, how to do it, and the practical results that may come out of such an approach. We believe that these will have a positive impact on community quality of life in northern communities.”

For more information on the northern housing study, please contact Tim Pringle at the Real Estate Foundation of BC (www.realestatefoundation.com).

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©hanspetermeyer.ca / 2009