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Nakusp needs property manager, new report urges

Manager could provide incentive for landlords to free up properties in area
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The report says a property manager for the area might help free up some rental homes. (File photo)

A new report on housing in the Nakusp-Arrow Lakes area is endorsing the idea of finding someone to help manage long-term rental properties in the region.

“There is an immediate need for the property management service in Nakusp,” says the report by Incentica, a Calgary-based consulting company. “Nakusp will want to approach local licensed … rental property managers first with the results of this report to gauge interest.”

The report, titled Nakusp and Area – Rental Property Management Feasibility Study, was done for the Nakusp and Area Development Board, and the first draft released a week ago.

“At first blush I’m very happy with it,” says Aidan McLaren-Caux, a member of Nakusp village council and its representative on the board. “It’s very interesting to know what is out there.”

The report provides a sweeping overview and detailed analysis of the housing situation in the Arrow Lakes area around Nakusp, and includes New Denver and Kaslo in its analysis as well.

“We aren’t developing housing, we don’t have those resources,” says McLaren-Caux of the development board. “But we have provided a study that is now, more or less supportive of a [property-management] business being feasible.

“So it opens the door to somebody to take on that mantle, and run a business that’s worth their time but also helps the housing situation.”

The study was commissioned after years of frustration on the part of renters, landlords, and local businesses about the housing situation in Nakusp and area.

The shortage of long-term rental accommodation is a deterrent for people considering moving to the Nakusp area, it says, and therefore is considered a constraint on economic growth for the region.

Overall, the report says the region’s housing market can be considered balanced and healthy, with a three to four per cent vacancy rate. (However, the report also says stakeholders regard the long-term vacancy rate as essentially zero.) It says Nakusp has the lowest average rent in the region, the lowest rent as a percentage of household income, and a higher supply of affordable housing than other communities in the region.

However, the housing stock is older, and in generally poorer shape than average, the stock isn’t growing with many new units coming online, and many landlords have or are considering pulling their properties from the rental market because of bad experience with tenants.

It says the long-term rental market is essentially an “underground” market, with renters and landlords connecting through word-of-mouth and going through informal vetting processes.

“Renters report issues finding a place until they get connected and ‘rubber stamped’ by those who have knowledge of available rental supply,” the report says. “Nakusp landlords have an unofficial database to know who to rent to.”

That makes the rental market frustrating for outsiders trying to get in, which can in turn have people turning down jobs for lack of housing.

The councillor says having this kind of hard and soft data on the subject will really help decision makers of all levels of government and business have a firmer grip on the issues.

“Part of the issue is there’s almost no data to work from. This addresses that,” says McLaren-Caux. “I would think it is about as good a report for data as you could do for this area.”

The report authors spoke to various stakeholders. Most felt the addition of a local property management service would be “a solution primarily for two reasons: it would give landlords an option to manage tenant risk (primarily out-of-town; local landlords too); it would give the long-term rental market more visibility and an access point to those not familiar with market.”

The report recognizes any property manager setting up shop in the area will have to have deep pockets to begin with, as it could take several years to build up enough of a portfolio to generate a living wage.

The report recommends several steps to having a property manager in the area, including identifying a lead agency for looking for a manager, communicating with the public, holding a “best practice” session for local landlords, and tenant education on good practices.

The report also recommends continuing to monitor rental stocks and the impact of 30 new units coming online in the next few years, and continuing to research how other municipalities are tackling the issue.

It also recommends the region use economic development to help drive housing development initiatives, and explore further how high-tech remote workers could affect the local housing market.

McLaren-Caux says the board’s next job is to get the information into the hands of people who can use it.

“It’s good we have info to work with,” he says. “Hopefully someone in the private sector will step in and fill the role and it’s beneficial to them, and I hope the report is a good enough case.”

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Nakusp village councillor Aidan McLaren-Caux says a new report will serve as a guide for people working to find solutions to the long-term housing crunch. (Photo submitted)