BC Housing begins Fortune Motel facelift; councillors warn property must still be rezoned for long-term use

KAMLOOPS — The Fortune Motel had been operated by the Piva family for 56 years until last week — a place for tourists and athletes alike coming up to Tournament Capital for sporting events. The COVID-19 pandemic ultimately forced its closure.

The province now has a vision for its future, purchasing the property for $3.5 million with the idea of providing more housing for the homeless on the North Shore.

“In the short term, the hotel is going to have some retrofits and minor renovations to make it ready to provide about 40 units of housing for people immediately to get them inside,” said B.C. housing minister David Eby. ”

However, B.C. Housing has long-term plans for people who need shelter, but doesn’t know exactly what it will look like.

City of Kamloops staff has been in touch with B.C. Housing about the project, but did not have direct involvement with the purchase. They say it helps get the city closer to housing everyone.

“If B.C. Housing is successful in bringing another 40 supportive units to our community, I think that’ll have a great positive impact. I can easily say we could use another 100 units right away,” said the City’s project manager for housing and homelessness, Ty Helgason. “We see that across all the resources, but also the fact that our emergency shelters are still consistently full.”

While City staff were made aware of the purchase, one City councillor says he and his colleagues were left in the dark throughout the whole process, finding out at the same time as the public.

“We haven’t even been presented with a proposal. We’ve been shown something — an agency wants to buy a property. That’s all we know,” said Kamloops councillor Mike O’Reilly.

However, at some point, council will need to be involved. In order for B.C. Housing to move forward with more long-term housing, it will need to rezone the property.

“At that point, it would come to a public hearing and go through to council, and to be clear, the decision isn’t on B.C. Housing — the decision isn’t on what operator it will be. The decision is on land use,” said O’Reilly. “We need to make a decision on what’s the best use for that property.”

However, regardless of what council and residents decide, there are some concerns the province flex its proverbial muscles like it did in Penticton this spring. In March, Minister Eby exercised the province’s paramountcy powers to keep a homeless winter shelter open.

Eby says even though the province now owns the $3.5 million property, it has some flexibility if the city ultimately doesn’t want these social housing units in the long term.

“We’ve accommodated concerns of cities and city councils and their constituents in many different places,” noted Eby. “Sometimes it means that we’ve had to swap properties, which is something we’re doing in Grand Forks, sometimes it means we have to physically close the site, as we’re doing in Victoria. So we’re willing to engage in those conversations with councils to accomodate them, but it has to be in a managed way. We can’t empty people into the streets.”

B.C. Housing and the City are in the process of negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding, so there are clear guidelines of what is appropriate social housing and the type of social housing that should be built in the future.