One of Coun. Brent Bush's many interests during his time at City Council was Affordable Housing. He sat on the committee that prepared the affordable housing needs assessment and is now working on planning four affordable housing units for 4th Avenue in Kimberley.

As part of his final visit to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference in Vancouver this week, Bush will present Kimberley's Affordable Housing Project.

The project is not yet funded, although the City will be looking to BC Housing, the Columbia Basin Trust and other funders for help with construction costs.

The City-owned 4th Avenue lot is considered a brownfield site. It was once a service station/garage and has been vacant since the 1980's. The City is in the process of gaining an environmental assessment of compliance for the entire site, but the proposed lot for the affordable housing development is within a previous Certificate of Compliance granted in the 1990's.

The project includes four one-bedroom, single-story units, just over 500 square feet each. Target renters would be single people or couples wanting affordable, clean and safe housing, especially those with accessibility needs. Two of the units will be designed to be fully accessible, while the other two will be designed to be adapted for accessibility if required by future tenants.

The City is prepared to donate the land ($70,000) as well as $60,000 cash equity from their affordable housing fund in order to keep rents affordable. Currently the projection is for rents to be $774 per month for each unit.