A pitch being put forward by a Kamloops City Councillor would see the city ‘thumb its nose’ at the B.C. Government’s new “Homes for People” initiative.

Councilor Nancy Bepple says while she support the need for more housing, she argues the provincial government’s imitative strips local governments of its ability to do the job it’s supposed to do.

“It is municipalities who decide how land is zoned, which means what type of housing can be built and this plan by the provincial government it oversteps that,” Bepple said, on NL Newsday.

The BC Government’s Homes for People program is designed to increase local density through the creation of things like four-plexes and more affordable homes.

Bepple argues previous administrations in Kamloops have already taken steps to add more housing options, including carriage homes and other zoning amendments.

“The problem with homes for people plan is that the province has said that they would zone duplexes and four-plexes across the entire city,” she said. “That doesn’t work.”

She contends Kamloops already has plans in place to create more housing options.

“In 2011, the City of Kamloops allowed carriage suites and garden suites in all RS1 zoned lands and then in 2019 it allowed secondary suites and garden suites in all urban zoned lands,” she said.

Bepple’s proposal – set to go before the next council meeting on May 30 – would ask the City to reject implementation of the BC Government plan.