Castanet – Jul 31, 2026 | Story: 626700
Re: Builder following the rules (Castanet, July 29)
This Kelowna city council seems to be totally out of touch with reality. The council supported an application for a 100-unit rental apartment building on Coronation Street. Only councillor Ron Cannan voted against it for numerous reasons.
Kelowna already has a glut of rentals. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data, the Kelowna metropolitan area holds the highest vacancy rate of any metropolitan area—populations over 100,000—in Canada, estimated at 6.9%. In the annual housing report presented to Kelowna council on July 13, it states that the City of Kelowna continues to exceed the cumulative new housing target in the second year of a five-year program, already at close to the four-year target. No wonder Kelowna has such a high vacancy rate.
This rental project also provides a 10-year property tax exemption to the developer at Kelowna taxpayers’ expense. Further, the city is giving the developer a 20% reduction in parking for building residents, a further 15% reduction of visitor parking and a 25% reduction in development cost charges—all of this with no requirement to provide any affordable housing component. Councillor Luke Stack stated, “We need to see rentals built.” Really? When the city has a glut of rentals? When developers are being subsidized?
Council could have scrapped this rental program but chose not to. Why not? Mayor Tom Dyas said if the council voted no on this project because of the incentives that would be confusing and send the wrong message. What is the wrong message? That Kelowna doesn’t need more market rental development at this time? Why have council vote at all if you can only vote yes using the mayor’s logic?
What about a message that the city will not entertain any more of these types of buildings when there is such a glut and there are numerous projects in the works? Council also approved a 233-unit rental apartment building in Glenmore at the same meeting. The mayor and councillors should have stopped this subsidized rental program a long time ago. They seem to be more worried about developers than the management of the city.
Susan Ames
Kelowna
