Pamela Robertson is lobbying the Sunshine Coast Regional District to change Bylaw 310 so tiny homes can become permanent dwellings
(by Elizabeth Rains)
Housing displaced and reno-victed persons in tiny homes is no quick fix, the founder of Sunshine Tiny Homes told a West Howe Sound Community Association meeting this week.
Pamela Robertson has been trying for the past two years to build a tiny-home community in West Howe Sound for housing-challenged people.
She needs investors and supporters to help fund the purchase of a 11.7-hectare site at 2104 Twin Creeks Road, where over 50 time homes would be allowed. The cost of the site is close to $900,000, and Robertson wants to start with a dozen homes, she said Thursday in a telephone interview.
At present, tiny homes are deemed to be temporary housing throughout the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), and Robertson is lobbying the district to change its bylaws so tiny homes could become permanent dwellings.
She has taken her proposal to Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, MP for Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky, and to BC Housing. Their initial response was that similar projects have taken eight to ten years to complete, Robertson said. She is planning a brainstorming session with them for the end of April “to look for pockets of federal funding.”
The project would not be subsidized housing, Robertson said: home owners would be a mixed-demographic and would likely include many seniors. “People don’t want to be at the mercy of rental units that are ridiculously over-priced.”
The property’s current zoning allows for an RV park, which means that housing on the site must be temporary. Robertson’s tiny homes, ranging from 240 to 420 square feet, are designated as RVs, although they look more like conventional homes than trailers. They are long and slim and fit on a truck bed for moving. Robertson charges $65,000 for her smallest model and $120,000 for the largest.
Ian Winn, former SCRD director for Area F (West Howe Sound), said bylaw 310, which regulates secondary dwellings, is going through a major overhaul that might affect the issue.
Robertson said she is hoping the district will use the bylaw update to revive a temporary-use permit pilot project that would allow “temporary” to extend to three or six years on properties zoned for auxiliary dwellings.
Both Winn and Mark Hiltz, current area F director, urged attendees to voice their ideas about alternative housing through the SCRD’s online survey. It contains 34 questions and has space for comments. The survey is available on the SCRD website until April 15.
The next WHSCA meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, at Eric Cardinall Hall in Shirley Macey Park. The topic will be the Howe Sound biosphere.
Elizabeth Rains is an author, editor and editing instructor. This story was also published in her blog, Rains on the Coast. To contact Elizabeth please go to Rains.ca.