With a commitment to driving meaningful change on the city’s most pressing challenges, Kelowna City Council has released its first progress report on its 2023–2026 Council priorities. The six-month report shows completed and planned actions that advance the six key priority areas and 22 actions endorsed in March 2023.
“We have moved quickly to take action on the improvements and changes that we heard are most important to residents,” said Mayor Tom Dyas. “While we have made some important strategic shifts and are beginning to see some positive outcomes, there is more work to be done so that residents and businesses see a difference in their everyday lives.”
The report highlights over 80 activities, including the formation of a 13-member mayor’s taskforce on crime reduction, expansion of complex care in the community, advocacy work to secure provincial investment in mental health treatments and supports, projects to improve traffic flow and address speeding, the creation of the City’s first climate action and environment department, programs and initiatives to address housing affordability, increased coordination with the Agricultural Land Commission and work towards the establishment of an agricultural advisory committee.
“Progress reporting allows us to evaluate our programs, services and processes to ensure they are delivering the desired results,” said Mayor Dyas. "It also holds us accountable to residents. We’ll continue to take leadership as a city, work with partners, advocate with other levels of government, and publicly review our progress regularly. While it’s early in the process, I’m encouraged by the amount of work underway, and I look forward to continuing to build traction.”
Also noted in the report is Council’s approval of an ongoing one-per-cent community safety levy which funded the addition of 13 community safety staff, including six RCMP members and four bylaw services staff. Council also approved the allocation of $1.5 million of surplus to the City’s housing opportunities reserve fund to facilitate the acquisition of lands needed to meet the most urgent housing needs in the community. In addition, it notes the City continues to proactively offer municipal land to the province for transitional housing and a new purpose-built complex care facility.
Other milestones and actions within Council’s six priority areas include:
Crime and Safety
· Led advocacy work on repeat property and violent offenders
· Appointed city liaison with Downtown Kelowna Association, Uptown Rutland Business Association to better understand local needs
· Introduced theft prevention initiatives including the downtown bike valet and loan-a-lock programs
Affordable Housing
· Completed housing needs assessment with a proposed program to accelerate delivery of below-market housing going to Council for consideration before the end of the year
· Facilitated the opening of 68 new affordable housing units
· Submitted funding application to the federal Housing Accelerator Fund targeting resources to acquire multiply affordable housing sites
Homelessness
· Supported the addition of eight new complex care beds with 12 more beds in-stream
· Furthered advocacy work on complex care, mental health and substance use and treatment and housing
· Assuming the role of backbone organization for the Journey Home Strategy implementation and related work
Transportation
· Commenced project planning for the Highway 33 functional design
· Continued the transit operations centre and Commonwealth Road planning
· Advocated for permanent, consistent and predictable infrastructure funding
· Noted highest level of transit service hours ever
Agriculture
· Agricultural Advisory Committee initiated
· Created term agriculture planner position
· Delivered bylaw update to Council on rules around secondary residences in the Agricultural Land Reserve
Climate and Environment
· Developing a new climate action and resilience strategy with target completion in early 2024.
· Designing an energy concierge program to provide residents with a one-stop-shop to understand building retrofits and incentives
· Planted over 1,000 trees
“We have a lot to celebrate in Kelowna but, like all cities, we have complex issues to deal with and this Council has made a promise that we will focus on action to bring about the positive change our residents and city deserves,” added the mayor.
Many core services valued by residents are not included in the progress report, such as first responder services and drinking water. For more info about core services see the City’s Financial Plan.
The next progress report will be delivered in March 2024. The interactive online report will focus on using measurement and data to assess progress, consistent with the city’s ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability through regular performance measurement and reporting.
The six-month progress report is available online at kelowna.ca/councilpriorities.