Residents interested in developing rental housing, aging-in-place designs and tiny homes are coming together.
The City of Vernon, the Social Planning Council, the Land Trust and Everton Ridge Homes will host a forum on attainable housing and innovative designs May 19 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Schubert Centre.
“We want the community to know about programs and policies that encourage attainable and accessible housing,” said Coun. Juliette Cunningham, affordable housing committee chairperson.
The forum is broken down into three main segments and participants can select which sessions to attend.
First on the agenda at 3 p.m. is B.C. Housing and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to talk about provincial and federal programs. This will be a chance for the non-profit sector to connect with funders and for developers to understand what programs are available to the private sector.
The next session begins at 4 p.m. and includes a panel of presentations that cover topics in 10 minutes or less. Presentations include information on a local tiny homes project, an overview of the city rental housing grants program and information on changes to offsite requirements.
The final segment is at 5 p.m. and highlights the Safer Homes guidelines. These are 19 steps to develop universal design for homes where people can age in place. After the presentation, participants will be invited to view the first Safer Home in Vernon with Everton Ridge Homes.
“Everyone is welcome but we think that realtors, builders, private developers, housing non–profits and people considering building a new home will be particularly interested” said Annette Sharkey, from the Social Planning Council.
For more information or to pre-register for the event, contact info@socialplanning.ca