For businesses that are interested in partnering on staff accommodation - please see below for details of a Feb. 18th meeting.Tofino Shared Staff Accommodation Development - Recruiting Interested Businesses and OrganisationsProposal: The Tofino Housing Corporation is looking to recruit 4-10 businesses (or Organisations) who need new or would prefer different Staff Accommodation for their employees. The THC will work with the group of businesses over the next 2-3 years to find a site, investor/developer and operator. The Staff Accommodation will be financed and developed by the investor/developer and operated on contract. Each business will be charged a monthly rental and operating fee and will charge their employees how much rent they feel appropriate.What? A new purpose-built building or buildings designed to meet the staff accommodation needs of the participating businessesBed / Unit Types? Will depend on the needs of the participating businesses. Could be shared dorm-style rooms with communal kitchens, 1 bedrooms with shared kitchens or small 1 or 2 bedroom independent units.How Many Beds / Units in the Development? Will depend on the needs of the business group, but anticipate needing at least 30 + beds before initiative will be viable.Where? We need to find a willing landowner partner, but we have some ideas where it might go. Mostly likely the land will need to be rezoned.Cost? To be determined but in the range of $700-1400 per month (lease fee + operating fee) depending on bedroom, unit and building style. Our goal is to negotiate the best deal for the participating businesses.Next Steps?
- Contact Ian Scott at 250-884-6202 or execdirec@tofinohousingcorp.ca by February 14th, 2020
- If you decide you are serious about participating then you or a representative need to attend a founders meeting on February 18th. Contact Ian Scott for time and location.
- If you like what you hear at the founders meeting you will need to follow up and sign a Commitment Letter and pay a commitment fee to the THC (expected at $500-$1000 per room) to cover costs associated with securing an agreement with a developer/investor..
- March 2nd on. With Commitment Letters in-hand THC works to find investor/developer and willing landowner. Offers are presented to the group of businesses for consideration.
Ian ScottInterim Executive Director
Tofino Housing Corporation
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Tofino Housing Corporation Story
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18 comments:
The Tofino Housing Corp. is 100% owned by the District of Tofino. Therefore, this puts our municipal government into the business of supplying staff housing to privately owned business interests! ..... at the expense of the local taxpayer??
This is WRONG.
Also wondering why residents are paying for staff housing (via THC funding) for already successful business owners who want to increase and expand their business? Why would tax paying residents want to pay for increasing and expanding the already overblown tourism footprint, for private businesses, which will further tax our infrastructure that cannot support the existing water,sewer,and hydro demands, let alone the crumbling roads and highway from overuse and constant oversize vehicles on residential roads?
I really believe we are overtaxing the environment as well as the mental health and well being (and wallets) of residents and residential taxpayers.
This has nothing to do with local taxpayers. If it moves forward it will be funded through the Airbnb portion of hotel tax, by the developer and by businesses.
If the THC wanted to focus on helping actual year round locals find affordable housing, it might allow fast tracking of any developer willing to build monthly rental apartments.
Or perhaps an income verified row housing co-op scheme for new families?
But organizing, building, and maintaining staff accoms for a handful of businesses is bad optics. On the surface it looks like favoritism.
The private market already has rooms from $700-1000; what makes this any different?
Dorms?? Really??? Just drop a few atco trailers down and call it a day?
No public funds should be spent on helping businesses house what is likely to be a transient, partying, 20-something seasonal workforce. The business owners should pony up and build or buy housing, like the rest have already done and will keep doing. Business is business - Housing staff in a hot tourist destination is one of the costs of doing business here.
This is something the DOT should stay clear away from. If the THC really wants to help locals, rezone / tax defer / tax holiday private year round rental usage back into economic viability, allow laneway housing and secondary suites for monthly rent and consider a low income housing cooperative for year round families.
The DOT should remain neutral on matters of local business operations, including how they attract and retain their staffs.
Where is the land?. Who is committing the land?
I thought they turned down a private developer who wanted to build hundreds of rental units on his own land. and pay the District a fortune in fees.
Yes they did.
Now they are trying to negotiate this. Why couldn't they just make a deal with him to rezone some of his land I guess big brother can do it better. Yes citizens, things are always better when Big Brother is in control.
Watch as they wave all normal planning requirements that would apply to a private developer. Location, density, OCP, servicing and infrastructure, Phew! redundant details. Of no concern to the public. This is high priority stuff here.
Like they did on Sharp Road.
"This has nothing to do with local taxpayers". Therefore you get no say. We will get no say. Just shut up and pay you suckers. The BS has started already. The "AirBNB portion of Hotel Tax". That sounds like Tax to me. We got no say in how that was to be allocated. And because it is going to go to staff housing it will not go somewhere else like infrastructure. So just pay more taxes.
This Airbnb money just appeared from the heavens one day. An act of Her Majesties magnificence. She can make things just appear and decide everything. It all has nothing to do with you.
In my world, all things are connected, and we are as one.
Little Brother is watching. He is watching.
The dead sea lion on the beach may have a better smell than this charade.
Reply to 9:15 AM:
Mayor Osborne has stated that funding will come from MRDT, Amenities contributions, A loan, and unspecified grants.
I reply:
The MRDT funds mentioned are the airbnb portion of the tax, which could have been negotiated to be used for tourism infrastructure, thereby relieving a part of the infrastructure cost burden on the taxpayer, but instead were funneled to "affordable housing". Now, it appears, those "affordable housing" funds are going to be used to facilitate subsidized staff housing for private businesses. You, the taxpayer, get no relief from planned property tax increases from this funding source. ----- The amenities contributions mentioned are funds that come directly from the general coffers of the District of Tofino. This money belongs to the taxpayers. This money, for example, could be used to service parks and trails, instead of using funds from taxation. Those taxation funds could then be used to reduce your tax burden. Instead, the amenities funds are being used to facilitate staff housing for private businesses. You, the taxpayer, again get no relief from the proposed tax increases.----- The loan? The last loan that THC took out needed to be guaranteed by the District of Tofino, who took out a loan to provide security on their loan. You, the taxpayer, are today paying interest on that loan. This only further increases your tax burden. Further loans to THC will no doubt do the same. ------ Grants? I don't believe it is reasonable to expect that the sources of grant funding can be expected to supply funds for both subsidized staff housing and tourism based infrastructure, both at the same time. If we consume our portion of senior government's contributions on staff housing, there's unlikely going to be any sentiment left over to help us out with our shortage of infrastructure funding. Again you, the taxpayer, get left with the short straw. This story that "oh, that's a different bunch of money" is bogus. Just as bogus as the claim that the THC director's salary is paid from "this different bunch of money" The money, ALL of it, belongs to the taxpayers, people like you, who struggle to pay some of the highest municipal taxes in B.C. You deserve better.
More mumbo-jumbo plus smoke and mirrors. Why are we paying the THC director who was originally hired, I'm told, to expedite the affordable housing issue? No job description that I could see with deliverables, a Time frame and a budget. No RFP either?
It seems like this is about four years later & the only thing that might happen is that the THC director has dreamt up a whole new plan completely disregarding any previous work that had been assembled, at a significant cost, by the disbanded the tofino housing Corporation. The whole new plan wrecks a salmon stream, seems designed to service the bigger resorts, and will be paid for by the district borrowing money.
Meanwhile the expediter it seems to have weaseled his way into becoming a permanent employee of the district reaching far into the future with the districts checkbook pretending that it won't really cost US taxpayers anything. Baloney! It's costing a great deal to have a person expanding upon what was originally designed to be affordable housing for residents - not staff housing for tourist businesses.......
It's time to halt any further expense on this THC initiative, stop the music, thank the THC director, and end it.
Even if we took the time to examine the details of the alleged proposal for the taxpayers to fund staff housing for businesses, the concessions that would need to be made to the zoning bylaw would actually make the zoning bylaw nonexistent and end up costing even more money in lost revenues - i.e. the lift tax - as well as infrastructure loads and further erosion of existing neighborhoods.
It's a stupid idea and time for the taxpayers to say enough!
where is The housing consideration for the aging population and seniors? Totally ignored
Will the new bus Service haul all of us old folks to Port alberni..... Just to get rid of us?
If we seniors pay for this housing nonsense You would think there would be a component that fits the future for us.
Not very good community planning
in my view tourism tofino is now the boss dog driving its own initiatives for the dot officials to claim is planning. the OCP and common sense have been usurped in favour of blowing all the money promoting and servicing the tourist industry.
How do we get rid of these evil wastrels running our community. Some of those pictures look like emergency housing from some refugee camp or military front.
Containers and they are going to shoehorn this into our neighbourhoods.
Let that supposedly unsavoury fellow build rental units behind the gas station, give him his little hotel. At least we would get some taxes out of it. this is far worse. This going to construct instant ghettoes.
Can we redo that last election. I wonder how involved the whole council has been in the planning of this. It actually smacks of corruption
Hard to support this on any level really just a bad idea. Business should provide for their own staffing needs. If you can't find staff perhaps the owners should work? :) Affordable housing is a pipedream in Tofino...you can't put the clock back. There is a really undervalued piece of land with some Gardens on it.
The handwriting on the wall says to me that catalyst is directing the tofino housing Corporation via it's interim coordinator to dream this crap up.
Whereby catalyst gets a great deal of employment and so does the interim Cordinator who seems rather permanent.
Come on we're not stupid. The proposed properties are already apparent and people already have their hands in the pie.
Council needs to take a long hard look at where this stuff comes from.... There's too many missing links for the taxpayer to be on the hook for if this is approved...... And who's going to make some money.
Kennedy hill is the west coasts Big Dig.
The bike path/boardwalk is gonna be like our own micro Atlantic City. (Look at it now)
The THC is a petri dish example of why the 2008 housing crisis happened.(just another derivative)
You can’t walk down the street without seeing some garbage poster(which is also waste) of something that offends someone.
I’ve just come to accept that the majority of the town is either incredibly greedy to a point beyond what Wall Street could stomach, or just incredibly ignorant as to how our town/country/world/universe works. It’s actually really depressing, to the point you feel like you need to be on medication or something. Is this what life is here? Just sit and bicker about money and useless garbage while trying to impress individuals WHO LITERALLY COME HERE TO FLUSH THEIR FECAL MATTER INTO OUR OCEAN AND THEN LEAVE.
I’m sick and tired of the resistance to drastic YET positive change. You are all beating a dead horse. You have been for the last 20 years. STOP IT! ITS DEAD ALREADY! insane...
Omar, you're right..... but you gotta let it go, my friend. Struggling against the greed, apathy, self interests, and stupidity will only stress you out. Might even give you a heart attack.
It is a shell game the citizens cannot win. Every time the cup is lifted and you are hoping to see some truth and reasoning and honesty, there is nothing there.
Come on, look again folks there's just sweetness and innocence here as another cup is lifted and reveals nothing.
It is funny well not funny really but it is strange don't you think, that the House, or in this case the Housing authority, always wins???
Step right up folks, win a chance at getting a housing unit warmer and drier than your cold and leaking trailer.
Oh I'm sorry, you can't enter if you are not working x or y resort didn't you know that before you gave us that giant damage deposit?
The only good thing about the project is that you get exercise from shaking your head in disbelief.
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