Last year, in conjunction with the Sustainable Building Conference, a design contest was held. The challenge? Design a small housing project, that was affordable, accessible and incorporated green principles for a city-owned lot at 347 Stiles Street.

A winner was announced last year and now the Kimberley Affordable Housing Committee wishes to explore more fully the potential for actually developing this property. The proposed design involves construction of two rental housing units, each designed with three bedrooms (one accessible) and two bathrooms (one accessible).

Council approved the spending of $9,000 for a Project Assessment and Action Plan with will analyze project feasibility and include a business plan.

The money is available in the City's Affordable Housing Fund, and even those funds may not have to be used if a CMHC grant comes through, and Coun. Brent Bush of the Affordable Housing Committee says indications are that grant will come through.

"We have well over $60,000 earmarked for affordable housing, some of it from OKKO Communities contribution," Bush said. "But we are hoping not to have to use it."

The focus of the study, Bush says, will be to see if all components can be brought together to make this project happen.

"It's difficult," he said. "The experience in Revelstoke was that they had $200,000 from BC Hydro and built two green units. But in the end they had to charge $1400 a month per unit. So it's not really affordable. Affordable means below market."

And the market is still expensive. Bush says a three bedroom in Kimberley is in the $1000 to $1200 range.

"They have come down a bit, but not much."

However, even if rents are high, Bush says a house built with green principles would save a renter money in other ways, such as lower utility bills.

The request for proposals to do the study is now out.

"There are people who specialize in this field," Bush said. "Right now it's just the study, but it could lead to more. We would be looking for grants to fund the building. There is money out there, you just need to find it. But it's not dropping out of the sky. That's part of why we're doing the feasibility study."

A small project like this would help in the learning curve for doing something bigger in the future, Bush said.

The ultimate goal would be some sort of larger supportive housing project along the lines of Tadanac Gardens. The City is looking at the old Cominco shops land in Townsite as a potential location for this project.