This page expands the housing section of my West Kelowna council platform, promises 8 through 12. West Kelowna housing is the issue that sits under most of the others: the tax base, the downtown, the count of people sleeping outside. I have already published all 21 promises in short form, and the money and accountability page is the first in this series. This is the long version of the housing five: what is already happening, what is missing, and what I would bring to the table.
Summary: where I stand on West Kelowna housing
- Bring back the modest family home. Small-lot detached, townhomes, and rowhouses up to about 2,100 square feet allowed as of right in more neighbourhoods, with a faster permit path and lower fees under that size.
- One Okanagan plan to the province, not a West Kelowna plan alone. The Westside count went from 62 to 85 in two years, and most of the people counted came from elsewhere in the valley. If we build the best supports, more come. Vernon to Penticton co-signs one written ask to the province with shared data and published targets.
- Stop repeating what does not show results. Every program gets a target and a public report. No movement in two years, the money moves.
- A quarterly public count. How many people, where, and what services they touched.
- A visible site process. Any service hub, shelter, or supportive housing site gets criteria, a shortlist, and resident input before land moves, and only inside the regional plan.
Two things I will not say: that density on its own fixes affordability, or that West Kelowna can solve homelessness alone. One councillor is one vote of seven.
On this page
The 1990s math, and what the targets say
I grew up here on a normal income. A normal job in a normal town used to buy a normal home. Not a big one. A modest three or four bedroom house, a yard, a driveway. I have written about wanting that math back and I am not going to repeat the whole argument here. The short version: my three boys should be able to afford to live in the city they are growing up in, on one income each, without help from me.
Now look at what West Kelowna housing is being planned to be. In 2024 the province set the city a five-year target of 2,266 net-new units. Castanet published the breakdown. Nearly 60% of those units, 1,342 of them, are studios or one-bedrooms. Four hundred are two-bedrooms. Five hundred and twenty-four have three bedrooms or more.
I am not against apartments. Young people, seniors downsizing, and single-income renters need them, and the city is short of them too. But fewer than one unit in four in that target is a home a family of four can live in. If that is the plan, then the plan is that families move to Peachland, Lake Country, or out of the valley. Nobody voted for that. It is just what the math produces when nobody asks about the third bedroom.
What the city is already doing, and what is missing
Credit where it is due, because a lot has happened. In February 2025 the city received $7.9 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund after missing out in the first round. With it came a supply target of 1,343 units by 2028: 199 single-family, 814 missing middle, and 330 multi-unit, with 114 affordable units inside that. The city has committed to seven initiatives across 18 milestones, including pre-reviewed duplex and fourplex designs that skip the development permit step, and updates to align with the province's small-scale multi-unit rules.
That is real work and I would keep every piece of it. Here is what I cannot find. The 814 missing-middle units are the right idea, but "missing middle" covers everything from a basement suite to a six-storey walk-up. I want to know how many of those 814 are ground-oriented homes with three or four bedrooms: a townhome, a rowhouse, a small-lot detached. If the answer is most of them, good, say so publicly. If the answer is that they are mostly suites and fourplexes of one-bedrooms, then we have funded density and called it family housing.
The second thing I cannot find is the fee question. I want to know whether the city's fee and charge schedule treats a 2,100 square foot home and a 4,000 square foot home the same way. If it does, that is a policy choice against the family home, and it is one council can change.
The five promises, one at a time
Same format as the money page for each West Kelowna housing promise: the problem, the motion I would bring, what you would see, and where it could go wrong.
8. Bring back the modest family home
The problem. Nobody needs council's help building a 4,000 square foot house. The modest three or four bedroom family home is the one that disappeared, and it disappeared partly because we regulated it out: lot sizes, setbacks, parking, and a permit path that costs the same whether you are building a starter home or a mansion.
The motion. Small-lot detached, townhomes, and rowhouses up to about 2,100 square feet allowed as of right in more neighbourhoods, without a rezoning hearing. A faster permit path and lower fees for homes under that size. A published report on how many of the HAF missing-middle units are family-sized, updated with the HAF milestones.
What you would see. A homeowner or a small builder on a regular lot could put up a modest three or four bedroom home, or two, without eighteen months and a lawyer. The permitting dashboard from the money page would show whether the fast path is actually fast.
Where it could go wrong. Neighbourhood pushback is real, and I have been on the resident side of it. That is why this is about 2,100 square feet and two storeys, not six. It is also why the plain-language development signs in the residents section matter: people fight what they cannot read. And zoning is council's to change, but the fee schedule, hillside permit rules, and servicing are where the real friction lives. I would need staff to walk me through those before I vote on any of them.
9. One Okanagan plan to the province, not a West Kelowna plan alone
The problem. The city's own Westside Unique Identifier Count found 85 people experiencing homelessness in 2024, up from 62 in 2022. The same report says most of the people counted are from the Okanagan, many from Kelowna, and moved to the Westside for cheaper housing or family. That is the finding that matters. Homelessness moves. If West Kelowna builds the best supports in the valley, more people come here for them. That helps Vernon, Kelowna, and Penticton, and it leaves a city of 40,000 carrying the bill. Food bank use on the Westside doubled in the same two years, to about 1,740 people in November 2024, so the number of people one missed paycheque away from the count is growing too.
One limit on the report. It is self-reported, and it says financial strain is the top reason people lose housing. I do not take that at face value. It records how people say they fell in, not what keeps the hardest cases on the street, where mental health and addiction dominate. I am not picking "housing first" or "treatment first" off one survey. I am saying no single city can answer either one alone.
The motion. Ask council to invite every Okanagan municipality, Vernon to Penticton at minimum and Salmon Arm to Osoyoos if they want in, to co-sign one written ask to the province: shared data on who is homeless and why, one regional plan, published targets, and provincial accountability for the pieces only the province controls, including policing, the courts, and BC Housing. Alongside it, a shared review with Kelowna, the RDCO, Interior Health, and BC Housing of what the region has spent on this and what it produced.
What you would see. One document instead of eight letters, with West Kelowna's share of the cost and the services spelled out. Until that plan exists, I would not support West Kelowna expanding permanent services on its own. Supply at the bottom of the market still comes with promise 8, secondary suites, carriage homes, and non-market housing on city land where it fits, because that is the piece the city controls regardless. It also pairs with clear rules on public drug use in parks, playgrounds, transit stops, and storefronts, enforced by bylaw and the RCMP together.
Where it could go wrong. Regional cooperation is slow and every council has its own election cycle. I am not promising the other cities say yes. I am promising to ask, in writing, and to publish the answer. If the province refuses to carry its share, residents will at least see that on paper instead of guessing.
10. Stop repeating what does not show results
The problem. Programs get funded on good intentions and renewed on habit. Nobody goes back and asks whether the number moved, because nobody wrote down which number was supposed to move.
The motion. Every program the city funds or partners on in this area comes with a target and a public annual report. If it does not move its number in two years, the money moves to something that does.
What you would see. A one-page table. Program, what it was supposed to change, the baseline, the current number, and a plain yes or no on whether it is working.
Where it could go wrong. Two years is short for some things and the wrong measure can punish good work. So the target gets set with the partner, up front, before the money. If a partner cannot say what success would look like, that is the answer to whether we should fund it.
11. A quarterly public count
The problem. The count happens every two years. That is too slow to tell whether anything council did in between made a difference. The community safety plan council adopted in September needs a number it can be measured against, or it is a document.
The motion. A quarterly public count: how many people, roughly where, and which services they touched. It does not have to be a full identifier count. It has to be regular and comparable.
What you would see. Four numbers a year instead of one every two, and a West Kelowna housing trend residents can check. Residents in Westbank Centre and Shannon Lake would be able to see whether the count is moving the right way, instead of guessing from what they see on a walk.
Where it could go wrong. Counts depend on who is doing the counting and where. Set the method once, publish it, and do not change it, so the trend is real even if the level is imperfect.
12. A visible site process
The problem. The city's own report recommended a one-stop service hub. A year earlier, council rejected a hygiene centre over its location, after partner organizations pulled out. Bartley Road was effectively decided by the October 2023 land sale to BC Housing before residents were asked. Every time, the site comes first and the conversation comes second.
The motion. Any service hub, shelter, or supportive housing site in West Kelowna gets a published site process before any land changes hands: the criteria, the shortlist, and a chance for residents to weigh in. And it proceeds only inside the regional plan in promise 9, with the enforcement piece agreed in writing.
What you would see. A site process residents can read from the start, and a clear answer on which neighbourhood is being asked to carry what, and what comes with it.
Where it could go wrong. A visible process is slower than a quiet land deal, and BC Housing can buy land without asking council. What council controls is zoning and its own land. That is where the process would bite.
Bartley Road, since you will ask
BC Housing has proposed a permanent shelter at 2570 Bartley Road. I do not support it, and I want to be specific about why, because "not in my backyard" is a fair thing to be accused of when it is literally near my house.
I live nearby. My cars have been broken into and over $1,000 has been taken, with no call back. I know business owners in the area who have had break-ins with no follow-through. That is not a reason to oppose every site. It is a reason to insist that a site comes with enforcement that actually shows up, and with a process residents can see.
The bigger issue is how the site got chosen. The land was effectively decided by the October 2023 sale to BC Housing. By the time residents were asked, the answer was already in the deed. That is the opposite of promise 12. If a shelter is coming to West Kelowna, and the count says one probably should, residents should see the criteria and the shortlist before the land moves, not after, and it should sit inside the regional plan in promise 9, not ahead of it. That is the fix. Not fewer shelters. A visible process.
What these promises do not say
They do not say density alone fixes affordability. Approving more one-bedroom apartments will help renters and it will not put a family in a modest three or four bedroom house. West Kelowna housing needs both, and right now the plan is heavy on one.
They do not say West Kelowna can solve homelessness on its own. Policing, courts, health, and most of the housing money are provincial. What the city controls is land, zoning, the quality of its ask, and whether it measures what it funds.
They do not promise outcomes. A councillor is one vote of seven, and council does not manage staff. The CAO does. Everything above is a motion I would bring and a vote I would cast the way I said I would.
How to hold me to it
Every promise on this page produces a document. If I am elected and the document does not exist by the end of 2028, ask me why, in public.
| Promise | The document that should exist | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Modest family home | A zoning amendment allowing modest ground-oriented homes as of right, a reduced fee tier under 2,100 sq ft, and a family-sized count inside the HAF reporting | Zoning bylaw, fees bylaw, HAF milestone updates |
| 9. One Okanagan ask | One written Okanagan submission to the province, co-signed by the participating councils, with shared data and published targets, plus the regional spending review | Council minutes, city website |
| 10. Results test | A one-page annual program table with baseline, current number, and working or not | Council agenda, once a year |
| 11. Quarterly count | Four published counts a year, same method every time | City website |
| 12. Site process | A published site process, criteria and shortlist, for any hub, shelter, or supportive housing site, before land moves | Council minutes, city website |
If you want to see where you land on West Kelowna housing and sixteen other local questions, the West Kelowna Council Alignment Calculator takes about four minutes. The full list of promises is on my platform page, and the first page in this series covers money and accountability.
Next up in this series: downtown Westbank. Voting day is Saturday, October 17.