An action plan to address housing issues for Banff Housing Corporation (BHC) homeowners and members of the public is moving along.
Banff council, acting as shareholders of BHC, recently accepted the BHC board’s action plan to address several consensus recommendations that came out of a working group.
BHC was swept up in a storm of controversy in 2009 after unveiling its mandate review, but following a lengthy process to deal with homeowners’ concerns, there now appears to be renewed confidence.
Councillor Paul Baxter, who is also chairman of the BHC board of directors, said he is happy with the outcome, noting the action plan is based on 100 per cent of the working group’s recommendations.
He said he also believes the action plan provides what homeowners and members of the public have been looking for – transparency and certainty.
“The working group spent countless hours reviewing and putting these recommendations together, looking at it from all different angles,” he said.
“The BHC was directed to create an action plan and the board did its utmost to maintain the spirit of the recommendations in the action plan – and I believe that was done.”
In response to an outcry from homeowners following the BHC’s mandate review, council created a working group to examine 16 topic areas regarding the BHC mandate review and housing in Banff.
The group included five public members and two alternates, five BHC homeowners and two alternates, two councillors and one alternate. They met 20 times between October 2009 and the end of June 2010.
In August last year, council voted on a series of recommendations provided by the working group a month earlier. Several recommendations were acted upon immediately, but some required more time.
For example, BHC will request funding next fall as part of 2012 budget deliberations to be able to track rental rates and rental construction in Banff.
The board will also review its current practice on right of first refusal on house sales and plans to outline it in a brief policy document, to be presented to the shareholders by Sept. 30.
BHC will continue to use a priority approach using a points system for the registered resale list, but is committed to reviewing the ranking system on an ongoing basis.
By the end of 2012, the board will also review the existing residency points criteria through a public process.
The board will also provide shareholders with a report on administration fees at BHC’s annual general meeting, tentatively scheduled for April 2011.
BHC will also produce a process of sale for price-capped units, which will be available on the Town’s website before March 31. The rental policy will be made available on the website around the same time.
Coun. Baxter said he has spoken to some of the members of the original working group, and they too seem to be happy with the action plan and its progress.
“There’s still work that the BHC needs to do on the action plan, which it is doing, to fulfill all these requirements,” he said.
“This hopefully answers a lot of questions when people are making a decision to buy a house, which is a pretty big decision.”
Mayor Karen Sorensen said she welcomed the work that had been done so far.
“The working group came up with all these consensus recommendations and I was delighted to see the BHC board moving quickly forward with the recommendations,” she said.
