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Adapted from the Regional Housing Affordability Strategy documents
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A
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Affordable Housing Agreement: An agreement signed by the Government of Canada and the Province of B.C. in 2001 to jointly fund affordable housing projects over a fiveyear period.
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B
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Best Practices: Examples of approaches to regulatory mechanisms, financing, partnerships and tenure arrangements and self-help initiatives that can provide innovative and useful lessons for improving housing affordability.
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C
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CMHC: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
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Community Land Trust: A land trust can acquire land through purchase or donation and holds it in perpetuity in order to remove it from the speculative market and to preserve its use for specific purposes in the future, such as housing affordability.
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Core Housing Need: A direct measure of housing need defined by the CMHC using Canada Census data. The most recently available data is from the 2001 census. Households are defined as being in core housing need if they do not live in, and are unable to access, housing that is affordable, in adequate condition, and of suitable size.
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D
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DCCs/ Development Fees: Development cost charges are used by local governments to fund urban services such as roads, water, sewers, and parks by charging developers a fee. DCCs can comprise a significant portion of the cost of a new lot/unit.
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Densification: Higher-density development that can include multiple housing forms such as town houses, row housing, apartments, cluster developments, duplexes and patio homes.
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E
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F
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Flexible Housing: Housing designs that offer a range of incremental adaptation to either the interior and/or exterior.
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FCM: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
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G
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H
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HAP: Housing Affordability Partnership
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Harmonized Local Government Development Regulations: Within any single jurisdiction there is an extensive array of development regulations; within multiple jurisdiction areas such as the Capital Region, the complexity is increased. Improving consistency from one jurisdiction to another can reduce development costs
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I
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Inclusionary Zoning: Refers to policies requiring that a proportion of housing units within a new development meet affordability or other special needs criteria. It has been used to help ensure a mix of housing types in an area.
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Independent Living BC Program: A program established by the province in 2001 which redirected funds to providing supportive and assisted-living units for frail seniors and persons with disabilities.
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Infill Housing: The introduction of new housing into, or adjacent to, existing neighbourhoods resulting in an intensification of land use. Such a project can include a single-family dwelling, residential conversion, attached or multiple unit form of housing and can occur in a variety of locations, including small vacant lots, transitional areas between land uses, lands previously zoned for alternate uses (e.g. commercial or industrial), underdeveloped sites, and irregular sites.
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J
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K
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L
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M
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Mixed Use: A combination of retail/commercial, institutional and housing units of various types on one parcel or in one project. An example is apartments for rent or condominium tenure, located above commercial or retail uses, typically maintaining separate street access.
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N
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NHI: National Homelessness Initiative
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O
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OCP’s: Official community plans – under local 876 of the Local Government Act, a general statement of the broad objectives and policies of the local government respecting the form and character of existing and proposed land use and servicing requirements in the area covered by the plan
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P
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PHI: Provincial Homelessness Initiative, funded by the 2001 Affordable Housing Agreement. The PHI was recommended by the Premier’s Task force on Homelessness, Mental Illness and Addictions. This task force was established at the meeting of UBCM in the fall of 2004. It is comprised of seven mayors, with the aim of finding common solutions to the province’s growing homelessness problem.
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Q
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R
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Regional Context Statement: Under the Local Government Act, local governments must identify in a regional context statement how their official community plan is to be made consistent with the regional growth strategy over time. A regional context statement and the official community plan must be consistent
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Regional Growth Strategy (RGS): Under the Local Government Act, a regional growth strategy must include the following: a comprehensive statement on the future of the region (for a period of at least 20 years), including social, economic and environmental objectives; population and employment projections for the period covered; actions proposed for the regional district to provide for the needs of the projected population in relation to housing, transportation, regional district services, parks and natural areas, and economic development. The Capital Regional District’s RGS was approved in August 2003, and is scheduled for a five-year review in 2008.
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Regional Housing Trust Fund: Municipalities establish special funds (from general revenues, provincial grant monies, community bonds, pension funds) to buy sites for lease or to make up the shortfall between market value and the amount paid by groups who lease land from the municipality at below market price. The CRD established such a fund in March 2005.
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Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP): RRAP provides loans and grants to low-income homeowners, and landlords of properties to bring their homes up to health and safety standards. The program can also be used to make homes accessible for disabled residents, enabling them to live independently. In addition, Rooming House RRAP provides assistance to owners of rooming houses intended for permanent accommodation, with rents affordable to low-income individuals. Home Adaptations for Seniors Independence (HASI) assists low-income elderly Canadians, whose difficulties in daily living can be addressed by certain adaptations to their homes.
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S
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SCPI: Supportive Communities Partnership Initiatives, a federal program and part of the National Homelessness Initiative that provides funding to projects addressing the needs of the homeless and those at risk of homelessness.
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Secondary Suites: A self-contained unit in a building (typically a single family home). These rental units are also called basement apartments, apartments in houses, accessory apartments, in-law suites and “illegal� suites.
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Small Lot Zoning: A zoning tool designed to use land more effectively and efficiently by decreasing the average lot size, or creating a maximum lot size; and reducing setbacks.
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Social Housing: Generally housing that is subsidized by government
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Special Needs Housing: Housing owned by the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation, and managed by a variety of medical and social agencies (such as the Vancouver Island Health Authority, the Ministry of Health, or others) to meet the needs of their clientele, including people living with mental or physical disabilities, substance use problems, or a variety of social challenges (such as women fleeing abusive relationships, people leaving detox, and troubled teens).
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Streamlined Municipal Approval Process: The removal of obstacles that slow the development approval process that usually involves a review of such regulatory tools as zoning and OCP amendments, development permits, and public processes.
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T
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U
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UCB: Urban Containment Boundary
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UDI: Urban Development Institute
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V
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Victoria CMA: Includes most of the Capital Region, the prime exception is the exclusion of Salt Spring and the Southern Gulf Islands
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Victoria Homelessness Initiative (VHI): A local initiative in the City of Victoria to deal with the needs of the homeless and those at risk of homelessness. Funded under the National Homeless Initiative (NHI)
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W
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X
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Y
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Z
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