OLDS — Secondary suite applications in 2024 nearly tripled their share of the overall new housing stock in Olds compared to the average during the last decade, the town's planning and infrastructure manager James Crozier says.
That’s a sign of just how successful a two-year secondary suite incentive program has been. It expires this July.
A secondary suite is a self-contained living space. It can be located in a single-family home or duplex or be an entirely separate unit, located in the back yard or above a garage, for example.
The purpose of the incentive program is to spur the development of secondary suites as well as make existing illegal ones legal.
Incentives offered under the program include waiving of development fees for existing secondary suites, relaxation of parking requirements for such suites and relaxation of square footage requirements for them.
During a Feb. 3 presentation to town council sitting as committee-of-the-whole, Crozier said the advantage of secondary suites is they can be built within months, while multi-unit residences can take three or four years before they’re ready to be inhabited.
Because of the success of the incentive program, Crozier said administrative staff plan to come back to council closer to July with a proposal to continue the plan with some improvements.
The analysis of the incentive program is part of an overall look at housing as the town’s land use bylaw comes under review.
“That'll take a little bit more ironing out in the next couple months, but that is our hope,” Crozier said.
Coun. Wanda Blatz asked if the town has advertised the program because she was not aware of any such outreach.
Crozier said town staff have not yet really done so but plan to.
“We don't have a specific plan, but it is definitely something we are hoping to focus on in some type of advertisement or public notice in the future,” he said.
One goal is to do a better job of tracking the number of illegal secondary suites and spur owners of those suites to get them up to snuff.
“If it's compliant, you know that it meets the current fire safety standards, you have proper egress and accessibility during emergencies,” Crozier said.
“This is something we hear quite a bit from emergency services.
“When they go to a call where they don't know that an illegal suite is there, they don't necessarily know that they're meant to be looking for somebody, which can increase risks quite a bit in that case, help reduce risk to the tenant, injuries."
Crozier also said insurance companies may void insurance policies or limit payout payouts in case of damage or accidents in illegal suites.
“That can be a lot of risk to put on somebody if they have an illegal suite in their house.”
Crozier said there are opportunities that can make it easier to bring a secondary suite into compliance.
For example, he said the federal government has a program whereby those who may want to install a secondary suite in their home can access an $80,000 loan for two per cent interest, which, he said, “is pretty cheap money.”
“It also gives the owners legal protections. You can avoid fines, penalties and legal actions from the municipality,” Crozier said.
“Or in the event of tenant disputes, landlords of legal suites have better access to protections under landlord tenant laws.”
Crozier said other municipalities offer a map that shows where approved suites are. Staff like that idea.
He said such a map might help development officer Kyle Sloan who has fielded calls from concerned parents who want to make sure their children attending Olds College are housed in secondary suites that are safe.
Coun. Heather Ryan asked if staff have an idea of the percentage of non-compliant secondary suites in the community.
Crozier said they don’t, but they’re working on it. They know they exist.
Deputy Mayor Darren Wilson asked if staff tend to learn about illegal suites via complaints.
Crozier said yes, they tend to learn about them from complaints from tenants and sometimes from potential property buyers.
“Part of our discussion for the next year is more proactive searches, looking at rental listings and things like that online so it doesn't have to be complaint-driven in the future,” he said.
Council voted unanimously to accept the presentation as information.
