Port Moody council is throwing its support behind a plan to encourage more secondary suites, both to increase the supply of affordable rental housing and to bring home ownership within reach for more people.
A secondary suite task force formed in 2015 produced a report with 12 recommendations aimed at supporting new suites, streamlining the fees and charges associated with creating and operating a suite, and educating the public to generate better compliance with suite regulations.
“Secondary suites have a very important place in the housing continuum that we have,” said Coun. Diana Dilworth, who chaired the now disbanded task force, adding the goal is to make them “a positive in our community, not a negative.”
PoMo’s secondary suite program was introduced in 2004 in response to concerns about the proliferation of unregulated suites. But with affordable housing in low supply throughout the region, PoMo hoped to update its regulations.
Some of the task force’s recommendations include:
• update the 2009 Affordable Housing Strategy;
• allow flexibility in building code standards for suites created before the current code, as long as the suite still meets safety requirements;
• allow suites in duplexes and townhomes under the zoning bylaw;
• consider zoning bylaw changes to allow a suite and laneway house in the single-family zone;
• explore incentives for builders to create suites at the point of construction;
• and simplify the fee program to create one fee that covers the cost of managing secondary suites.
Some of the recommendations come with the caveat that there must be enough space for off-street parking for any additional dwelling units on a property.
Port Moody’s fees for secondary suite owners are $1,874 annually for additional utilities and a business licence. Coquitlam charges $1,893 for an unauthorized suite ($1,413 for one that’s legal) while PoCo charges $1,830. Burnaby’s fees, at $1,942, are the highest among the Tri-Cities and its neighbours.
Robyn McLeod, PoMo’s bylaws manager, said staff have held off from proactively searching for illegal suites for the past three months while the task force drafted its recommendations but said that work would now resume.
