City of Merritt to showcase 1st batch of transitional homes for flood evacuees

Dozens of Merritt, B.C., residents displaced by the catastrophic floods in November 2021 can move into a batch of newly manufactured modular homes as early as the end of this month, the southern central municipality announced Friday afternoon.

The city says it has spent part of the $24-million provincial funding to buy 31 transitional evacuee manufactured homes, with the main purpose of helping people who have been evacuated due to the flooding and have had issues with repairing their homes.

The municipality adds it will provide 20 modular homes — ranging from two- to four-bedroom units — to evacuees, and that it has opened the remaining 11 units to applications from all residents last month.

Last fall, the City of Merritt announced the launch of its Transitional Evacuee Manufactured Home Program (TEMHP) which provides cheap modular housing for a rental period from four to 24 months.

The announcement came a year after the southern Interior municipality had been battered by flooding disasters due to the atmospheric river event. The city estimated the disasters had damaged more than 600 houses, 300 of which required extensive repairs or demolition.

Renting 15% to 30% below market rate

Since the evacuation, the Red Cross has provided support for impacted households in Merritt, including money for repairs and access to interim housing at hotels.

The city says during Phase One of the transitional housing program, it identified about 130 displaced homeowners or renters who needed assistance transitioning away from the Red Cross's support. They were invited to apply for the program by mid-December, and 20 applications were accepted afterward.

The accepted applicants are entitled to renting a modular apartment at a city-subsidized rate of 70 per cent of the market value, with additional financial support from community partners.

Valerie Stacey and her family, who were displaced by the flooding, are set to move into a three-bedroom home and pay a subsidized monthly rent of $1,300.

Stacey says before the floods, she says her family paid $1,200 a month for a four-bedroom unit, but upon returning to Merritt two months after the floods, the home rental market had become so expensive that they had to pay the same amount for a one-bedroom apartment.

She says her two adult sons had to live apart from their parents as a result, but now her family can reunite.

"The boys are going to move back in with us," she told CBC's Radio West.

In Phase Two, which started last month, the program opened applications to other Merritt residents who faced difficulties finding affordable housing, amid what the city has described as near-zero rental vacancy exacerbated by the 2021 flood.

Successful applicants in this phase will be able to rent modular homes at 85 per cent of the market value on a first-come-first-serve basis, but unlike evacuees, they aren't entitled to financial support from the city's community partners.

Successful applicants in Phase One can choose to buy the housing unit anytime during the 24-month lease period, while those in Phase Two are eligible for the buy-out option four months after the start of the lease, up until December 2024.

Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz says the TEMHP is "the first time any program like this has ever been created."

"The City of Merritt is creating a ground-breaking new transitional housing program that will surely set the benchmark in future flood-recovery planning," he said in a written statement.