For the past two years, Bryce Knudson has had his tiny mobile home parked on a quiet, forested plateau in rural Mechosin, British Columbia—a four-hectare property where he and nearly a dozen other tenants live in tiny homes, an RV and a converted bus. managed to avoid the housing crisis in the region.
But an eviction date is looming and the tenants, who Knudtson says include a teacher, a health worker and a shopkeeper, could soon be forced out of their homes in a municipality south-west of Victoria.
In January, the Capital Regional District (CRD) served its landlord with an eviction notice, saying the additional homes were in violation of Mechosin County zoning regulation that limits the property to one dwelling and one secondary apartment.
The district has since granted two extensions to allow tenants to find new places, but will not grant any more after Aug. 31. Knudson says he and other residents who can’t find affordable space in the region to house their homes are out of options.
“We’re now at the point where we really have nowhere to go,” he explained, adding that he was disappointed the district refused to take emergency measures to help them stay there.
“We’re hiding here like criminals, and I don’t think we are. We are just people who have found [housing] a decision that was not made available to us,” he said.
Knudtson’s landlord, Sage Lancaster, said she bought the property four years ago with the intention of opening it up to tiny houses like Knudtson’s, which are built with wood, insulation and siding like a full-size house under what appeared to be a legal gray area in local by-laws.
But after numerous emails and phone calls to CRD and Metchosin, she says she received a bylaw notice stating that if the tenants didn’t leave by the eviction date, she would accrue fines of $100 per day for violating the law .
Bryce Knudson says he has lived in his tiny home in Mechosin for the past two years. (Adam van der Zwan/CBC)
Metozin is “fundamentally rural”, says the mayor
Mechosin Mayor John Rance says the district was incorporated in 1984 to provide a strictly rural alternative to the rapidly urbanizing region, and the 20 or so properties that allow more than one dwelling are those inherited from incorporation .
“We’re one of two fundamentally rural communities … and it just doesn’t make sense to compromise that,” Rance said when asked about the potential to rezone the property.
“Allowing any kind of density is like cancer. It just comes and takes you over.”
Rance said rezoning the property before the municipal election in October would be too much of a change and would significantly affect the character of the community.
It would also be expensive given the energy, waste and building regulations the district would have to enforce, along with the demand for more city infrastructure, which would cost taxpayers.
Lancaster said he trucks water for his tenants and they all use composting toilets, all of which work well.
She said she asked Metchosin to pass an emergency bylaw similar to one passed last year by the Islands Trust, allowing illegal rental housing on Salt Spring Island to remain “as long as there are … appropriate housing options that are available” to residents.
Rance says that kind of measure will be something the next council will consider after the election, in which he is sitting out after eight terms as mayor.
Municipalities have a duty to their residents: CDR director
In May 2018, the CRD and the provincial and federal governments announced up to $120 million to build about 2,000 rental units in the region, including 1,400 affordable units.
Saanich councilor and CRD director Jeremy Loveday said the program, which ends this year, “may not be meeting the needs of some of the more rural and remote communities,” adding that the CRD is starting a new housing program in 2023 with focus on the unique housing needs of rural areas so that residents do not have to leave their community.
Bryce Knudson is calling on Mechosin County to pass an emergency bylaw similar to the one passed on Salt Spring Island that would allow him to live in his home until a more permanent affordable housing solution is put in place. (Adam van der Zwan/CBC)
Loveday said he respects rural areas and the need to protect farmland, but “I also hope that if people lose their homes, there is a concerted effort by local government to … make sure people don’t have a place to go .”
Lancaster says he questions the definition of rural if Mechosin County is concerned about urbanization.
“We don’t have any [cut down] any trees. We have very little environmental impact here,” she said. “Instead of building apartments, this [tiny home community] could be the solution to the housing crisis while keeping Metchosin a farming community.”
Knudtson said he would like to see an emergency bylaw to allow a temporary exemption for homes until a permanent solution is put in place.
He said if he couldn’t stay on the property, he would have to quit his job, sell his small home and leave south Vancouver Island.
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