Tom McAuley A Kelowna city council candidate is proposing UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College impose enrollment caps. Tom Macauley sent an email in response to a Castanet story last week about the housing crisis for new students at UBCO. McCauley says construction companies face a shortage of skilled trades, in part because companies can’t bring in workers from other cities and states because there simply isn’t anywhere to rent. He argues that Kelowna city council should convene a meeting with the two post-secondary schools to urgently discuss the issue of capping enrollment to ease stress on the rental market. “I’m not even saying we should slow growth forever. What I’m saying is that we need to propose that we talk to UBC and say hey, we need to, you know, limit out-of-province or out-of-region hiring for now. “You know, you can focus on local, but you really have to put limits on how many people you bring into our community. Because really, we’re stressed to the max.” Macauley says it’s not just professionals struggling to find a place to live. “Families and single mothers and everybody are trying to find a reasonable place to live at a reasonable rent, and it’s just not possible.” He says he’s even heard of couples who have lived in Kelowna all their lives having to move out when they retire because they can’t afford to stay. Macauley, who attended UBCO after graduating high school, notes that the waiting list back then for on-campus housing was 1,000 or more students and is still around the same level. He says if the university can plan a 46-storey residential tower as part of its proposed downtown Kelowna campus, it should be able to build more housing on the existing campus. He believes the city should have demanded more from UBCO in the form of infrastructure contributions such as the Parkinson Recreation Center and other amenities that will be stressed due to the increased student population. “I’m not saying there’s only one solution to this. I think the city needs to be a little more strategic about negotiating those relationships,” adds Macauley.
