A new cooperative housing program would allow businesses to provide housing for workers in the Ucluelet-Tofino area.
A new cooperative housing program would allow businesses to provide housing for workers in the Ucluelet-Tofino area.
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Disclaimer: These interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
Jackie: My name is Jackie Lamport. Today is Monday, June 21st. Welcome to the Capital Daily Podcast. Ucluelet and Tofino are in high demand for affordable housing. While booming industries create a lot of jobs, workers struggle to find anywhere to live. But a new housing project seeks to solve that problem. To learn more about the housing project that would offer affordable housing to workers in the Ucluelet area, we're joined by Randy Oliwa, President of Pac Rim Home Development Cooperative and Mustafa Kulkhan, the Project Consultant for Relativity Projects Inc. Randy and Mustafa, thank you so much for joining.
Randy: Thank you for having us.
Mustafa: Yeah, thank you, Jackie.
Jackie: Randy, I'll start with you. What is the issue in Ucluelet with housing that you wanted to solve?
Randy: It's not just Ucluelet-based. It's everywhere. But specifically to your question. Ucluelet has always had some sort of issue with housing. We were a resource-based community, and that's what it was built on. The growth of fishing and forestry, those resource-based industries, but they always came with a season. So you would have influxes of workers, and there were times that it was very, very busy in the area. And then there were times that it would slow down. So again, that was around a resource-based economy. Springing forward to the last couple of decades and now, tourism's really taken over those industries, and again, with them brings another season, and there's a conflict of seasons. So we ended up with a clash of the demand for those limited housing units that were available to the area or to people. And what we found was that the tourism economy is growing exponentially, and that brings a lot of new money to the community. In 2008, the province designated Ucluelet, Tofino, and twelve other communities around the province as resort municipalities. So that gave us a special designation. And it exacerbated the issues even more because it drove more attention to the West Coast. People really wanted to come and stay on vacation and play here. And with the growth of the demand for that seasonal housing and that more lucrative tourism dollar has really forced those other industries to either be squeezed out or become very creative and finding their own housing. So I don't know if that answers your question. I kind of rambled there a little bit.
Jackie: So would the project focus on either industry specifically, or would it just be all-encompassing?
Randy: So what we found was focusing directly on our community and the lack of housing. We're only building one type of housing because of the more lucrative tourism economy and the special designation that we were granted here. In 2008, the type of house that we were building was basically tourism-based housing. So we built a lot of houses with separate suites in them or houses that were typically used for, you know, a single-family home. They would take in a seasonal fisher or forester into a monthly long-term rental, those who were starting to be squeezed out by the more lucrative tourism economy. We had Airbnb come in around that time around 2008, and with escalating housing prices and cost of living out here, people needed to find a way of supporting their own household. So at that time, somewhere in that state, it was a perfect storm. And a lot of the monthly accommodations were then transitioned into nightly. So that again added to the lack of long-term workforce housing or employee housing didn't exist anymore, even to this day, where all we're building right now is basically tourism-based housing. So back in 2019, a small group of us local business people got together. And we started to look at the entire housing spectrum, if you look on the one side of the scale, where you're looking at, you know, emergency overnight shelters, all the way up to complex care, senior housing, we looked at that entire scope. And we picked one small segment of that housing spectrum, and that was workforce housing. So it was actually kind of easy, we cherry-picked, and we thought, you know, we can't solve all the problems. But we can, we can, you know, we're creating all these great jobs out here, all these young people are coming out. But we weren't really housing them. We weren't looking at that other end of the equation. We thought maybe industry or something else would pick it up. And it just didn't; we only saw that one type of housing. So we were just focused on it. And we've come up with this concept, it was presented to us a number of years ago by another local business owner, and we just had the time in 2019 to start to focus on it and dig into it. And that's what we did. So yeah, that's where we're at today.
Jackie: Mustafa, can you explain a little bit of what the project would look like?
Mustafa: So it'd be the cooperative owning and operating the units. Ideally, we would partner with the district of Ucluelet and lease land from them for a nominal fee. And that allows us to leverage that land is basically a form of accurate equity that we can leverage and seek sources of funding. So essentially, we could apply to government agencies for grants, low-interest financing and create an income capital to build the project. And then PRD Cooperative would operate units, a self-sustained model, and we would charge, you know, ideally, very low rent, to operate these units. And I think it's much needed in the community. And I know, Randy just spoke a little bit about that. But it's not just these kinds of resort towns. Generally, I think in most populous cities like Victoria and Vancouver, with COVID and everything right now, you hear in the news that inflation and things are getting more expensive, and it's very hard for companies to retain employees. And I think this model applies to all municipalities across BC.
Jackie: What exactly would the housing look like?
Mustafa: Randy, you can maybe answer some of this. We targeted singles, couples, and then we even started our most small families or new families. But recently, Randy and the team have surveyed local businesses to better understand their needs. And also, the district, along with Tofino and the local First Nations and the Regional District, are conducting housing and needs assessment, I believe, which is in the planning stages, so they'll be able to flush out some of that. And then, we also got this survey and the data that will hopefully drive the target population.
Jackie: Randy, can you actually tell me about the conversations you've had with local businesses?
Randy: I learned a lot through this process. When I jumped into this in 2019, I started to look at the type of legal models that were presented to us because so jumping back a little bit, and we've been creating a new pool, that is, market housing. And we've seen what's happened prior to 2019, prior to COVID. And COVID has just even exasperated those numbers even more. The escalating housing costs are in every community. So what we wanted to do back in 2019 was a couple of things. And I was able to use my municipal background and foresee some of the questions that a municipality might challenge or ask because they're not allowed to aid business. So what was a great model that we could find? We eliminated the profit, eliminated the money, and eliminated the market out of our model. So that's what we tried to do here. We've got a partnership, and we're looking at a partnership with the municipality that would provide the land and some seed funding. We would then come in with our organized group of local businesses, which are the community people. Those businesses themselves are governed by our articles of incorporation, where there's no profit in it. So we would purchase the business ourselves, purchase a membership, an equity share in that model that would allow them to now have a housing unit. We've also limited it to four units because we don't want it to be all-encompassing; we're not restrictive, we're all-inclusive, and we are a cooperative. We found that the cooperative model really fit what we were trying to do with that membership base that allowed us to have to provide the businesses what they require. They want to guarantee some sort of ownership without actually owning it. We couldn't provide them with that because we didn't want them to have any type of gain by eliminating that, but producing a non-market product here. So that was our focus so that we could succeed by providing the businesses with the security they wanted through a membership share for their equity model for their housing unit. Now they can go away, they can plan, they can hire, develop, and grow their business because what was happening was they would get their employees, hire them usually in the fall, they would have great housing all winter comes to springtime, the more lucrative tourist industry would come in. Then, prices would escalate, and that unit of housing would be rented out for exponentially more. So by having this model, that's eliminated. Now they could grow and plan. That was the one side that we wanted to make sure of, so the business buys their membership at $1, the beginning, and they keep their unit of housing for three or five years. And they decide at some point in time they want to sell their business, or they want to move on or for whatever reason, they're going to close their business, and they no longer need that unit of housing, and it goes back to the Cooperative. The new business that purchases that equity share from that business that's leaving buys it at the same value that they purchased it in 3,5, or 6 years ago. So we've eliminated that, and that was key. And we're going to secure that by way of covenants. And Mustafa can talk a lot about the legal end of it.
Jackie: It is as a cooperative, and I saw that the businesses are only going to have one vote, despite how many units they own. What's the thought behind that?
Randy: We have a dog walker on our board, and we want to be all-inclusive. So we want it to be collaborative development; we want it to be positive. And we don't want big industries to come in and obviously dominate the board. So that's one of the parameters we put in. I'm not saying we have it right yet, we need to be able to pivot, and we've pivoted before we pivoted last month. We're trying to put a square peg in a round hole. And we're not going to sit back and let somebody tell us in the future that it can't be done. We need to change that round hole for our development to fit the model. But we need that on both sides. If there's legislation that needs to be changed or something that we need to do more work we need to do on the legal end, we're willing to do it to make this model fit.
Mustafa: Jackie, I should clarify that we're building rentals here. So they're meant to be affordable rentals. So at least that someone who's moved to Ucluelet and has a well-paying job but can't find affordable housing. This is their way in, and whether they're there for a year or two years, but it gets them into the rental market. Hopefully, they purchase something, or their needs change in the future and decide they want to rent a home or purchase another home or something.
Jackie: Are there any plots of land that seem likely at this point? How have conversations gone with the municipality?
Mustafa: I think the conversations have been so far very positive and well-received from the district. We have put in a request for about two and a half acres of land. That's kind of our basic criteria at the moment. But I think the district is exploring areas for that, like when we asked for land, we want something that's serviced and zoned appropriately for use. And so I think they are doing their due diligence and, hopefully, come back to us soon with maybe a narrowed down list of properties that would be eligible for this type of housing.
Jackie: Would businesses from Tofino also be able to join in on this?
Randy: Absolutely. We're regional, and we've met with our local First Nations, our partners. We do sit and currently live on the traditional territory of the Tla-O-Qui-Aht First Nations. So we have had preliminary conversations with them, we've introduced the project to them, and they are excited about it. And we've offered a position on the board to a lot of the local First Nations and pretty much anybody interested in this project at this time for sure.
Jackie: What is the next step in making this happen right now?
Mustafa: We just want to secure the land, and if we secure this land and as long term lease, we can apply to government agencies and non-government agencies for funding. And at the same time, we would like to do some due diligence on that line. Obviously, if we lease a parcel, we want to know that we could build on it and then take it to a shovel-ready stage where we've got drawings and engineering documents, and we've got permits and operating agreements in place. But we have to start with first securing the land. The next stage is getting that lease, which hopefully we can acquire soon.
Jackie: What would the timeline look like if you were able to secure the land?
Mustafa: Construction could be anywhere between eight to fourteen months, and then in between, you've got permits and everything like that, but I think from start to finish, probably 18 months.
Jackie: If this is successful, is it something that you would want to repeat and bring to other areas in the province?
Randy: This could be parachuted in any and every community is a key is your tip your local Chamber of Commerce to a great relationship. Our current MP Gord Johns in Tofino when he was the Chamber Manager up there a number of years ago. Gord grew the Tofino Chamber of Commerce to over 400 businesses. So we are a nucleus out here, a hive of young entrepreneurs; we just attract them, and it just grows. And that's a huge economy out here is all the young people that come out and start businesses, and you can see their energy and excitement. We need to do a little bit better job of maybe slowing down even our own enthusiasm a little bit and kind of focus on doing a really great job of economic development out here and business and development and growth. We need to hit the pause button, maybe just a little bit, and pick up the back end and make sure that we're providing safe, secure, affordable, amazing housing for the workers that are currently in need. And then maybe let the pressure off again a little bit later, once we do that assessment, and we house those people that are here right now servicing what we've already built. We've got some great features out there.
Mustafa: A lack of housing is gonna hamper future growth. So I think this model could work in many coastal communities up north, and it could work in the interior and on Vancouver Island. It just takes one project. And I can see Randy going on like a roadshow, speaking about this kind of innovative approach that we're taking.
Randy: When I was on municipal council, it was really fun when I got to go to the ABIC and the UBCM (Union of BC Municipalities), because you get to sit with fellow councillors and we're all green, we want to a popularity contest, we wanted to do something great for our community. And next thing you know, we're rubbing elbows with the Premier and stuff. So it's quite a pathway. And I encourage anybody to look into it because it really is a great thing that you can do for your community. But you'd sit around a table, meet with counsellors from Gold River and all around the province. And then you realize that you're all saying the same thing. Every community has the same needs. And we're all going into the same ministries and asking for the same dollar. I know for a fact that this could be parachuted into any community. And just the other side of it is what I wanted to shout out to my other councillors is, "You don't know what you don't know until you don't know it. And what I found through this process was I met with Parks Canada back in 2019. I met with a lot of major federal and provincial bodies in this area. And I know from my general knowledge of living and growing up here that we used to have fisheries and oceans. So I believe we had over twenty houses, single-family homes, that the federal government-owned in Ucluelet. Those were sold off, and those are no longer here. So the federal government used to provide housing for the department for DFO for Transport Canada, for our Coast Guard Station. Those are gone, along with lots of RCMP housing. Parks Canada had a lot of housing in this community, but they've been getting out of housing. So all of our federal partners in rural and remote communities have divested that housing and not stepped back up, probably for a good reason. It's very expensive. So, write to school boards and our local municipality. We have changing staff all the time. How are you going to hire a CFO or a CEO if you don't have suitable housing? We need to create the whole package. So I'm really excited about this project and want to see it develop and move forward. And, I want to see these partnerships created and watch us grow. And then we can do a really good job here. As Mustafa said, we could hit the road and get this in other communities. But it really does come down to a strong Chamber of Commerce, strong partnership with your municipality, and then really listening to community groups that come forward and say, "Hey, we're all volunteers here. Please help us out. We've got a great idea."
Jackie: Awesome. Randy, Mustafa, thank you so much for joining me today.