Photo: Castanet/file
The latest survey of Kelowna residents shows some alarming trends, however, as council was quick to point out, many of those are outside the city’s control.
The survey conducted every two years by Ipsos Research shows that, while residents are still happy with their quality of life and still believe Kelowna is a safe city, those numbers are declining.
“We are definitely seeing some of the concerns outside the city’s control and not unique to the City of Kelowna,” said Ipsos Research director Catherine Knaus in response to questions from Coun. Mohini Singh.
“It’s the rising cost of living and we are seeing that come up everywhere we do our research these days.
“At the same time I think there are some more local issues that we are seeing with increased emphasis around increased poverty and homelessness and public safety concerns.”
Knaus says those feelings are not unique to Kelowna, saying the quality of life measure has been trending down in many communities he has done research in.
Overall, Knaus says social issues such as poverty, homelessness and affordable housing sit at the top of residents priority list with public safety not far behind.
Residents are satisfied with services the city provides as numbers, which dipped during the last survey in 2022 have rebounded.
A majority also believe they receive good value for their tax dollars, although that number is also trending downward.
Residents prefer tax increases over a reduction in services, however Knaus says the gap is narrowing, possibly because people don’t have as much disposable income as they had.
But, it was quality of life that dominated council’s discussion.
Coun. Loyal Wooldridge said the survey is a barometer check to see what residents are feeling, adding that across the board, Canadians are feeling that “life is hard” right now.
“Unfortunately we don’t control a lot of the factors that people consider,” said Woodridge.
“We don’t control the central bank, we don’t control the federal economy and those are the indicators that make life hard for folks right now.
“What we have been doing is investing into a new social development department because we know that matters to people, we have invested in public safety and created a task force on that.”
Mayor Tom Dyas said it’s council’s job to receive and interpret the data and use it to “inform our decisions” and ensure we are aligned with what residents want and need.
And while he pointed to positives around inclusiveness and city services, Dyas acknowledged there are areas to improve upon.
“I know we will do our best to address those concerns around social issues and public safety and advance the other ones that are in our control,” said Dyas.
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