
B.C. housing minister in the Okanagan ‘listening and learning’ as he takes aim at the housing crisis
Global News
Thursday, B.C.'s new housing minister Ravi Kahlon was in Vernon getting a sense of the housing situation as he starts work to tackle one of the province's biggest problems.
The challenges posed by the housing crunch in the Okanagan are everywhere: people living in RVs, families making their homes in motels, and businesses struggling to find staff.
On Thursday, B.C.’s new housing minister, Ravi Kahlon, was in Vernon getting a sense of the situation as he starts work to tackle one of the province’s biggest problems.
His North Okanagan stop is part of a larger tour of the Interior.
Kahlon said the province is working to have more affordable units built both for rent and to buy.
The ministry said he would be talking to city councils and mayors in the Interior about how to get that type of housing online.
“We need to do it faster. Waiting two, three, four years for these things to be built is too long,” Kahlon said.
Beyond building on existing programs, the new minister was short on specifics.
“We are right now refreshing our housing strategy so you will have very soon a road map of what we are going to be doing, from the province’s perspective, to ensure that housing that people need, no matter where they are in their lives,… is there for them,” Kahlon said.