Housing in Kamloops.

Updated March 2018

There are many housing options in Kamloops. The short term accommodations can be found on booking.com, and Airbnb. One can also find apartments for rent on craiglist or kijiji or alternative housing options on ewaykamloops.  TRU Off Campus Housing  and TRU Campus Housing provides general information on campus options for students who are interested to study at the Thompson Rivers University.

A detailed Guide for Landlords & Tenants in British Columbia was developed by the BC residential tenancy branch and is available in four languages English, French, Chinese and Punjabi. Government of BC provides a very detailed overview of Housing and Tenancy and includes helpful information on residential tenancies, strata housing, owning a home, senior’s housing, social housing etc. Tenantsbc.ca offers a comprehensive resource for landlords and tenants in British Columbia. Tenant Survival Guide is also available in pdf and wiki format. Kamloops Landlords’ Handbook is a resource for people who provide rental housing but can be interesting to anyone who rent the place.

If one wants to buy the house the Real Estate Council of British Columbia offers a detailed guide on how to buy a home in BC. The Vancouver Sun also has a step by step article on tricks and tips on how to buy a house in BC. The Canadian Bar Association provides a detailed overview of the lawyer role in the house buying process. Check also BC government website on what is involved in buying/selling property. Kamloops this Week states that the average price to buy house in the city in 2016 was 400 000 CAD. Real Estate Market Report for Kamloops, BC is regularly updated and provides information for people who are looking to buy the house/apartment in Kamloops. Kamloops Real Estate Blog provides more information with links to other relevant local resources. Calculate your buying costs using information from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver  or use one of the five calculators (Debt Service, Premium, Household Budget, Mortgage Payment and Mortgage Affordability) from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation website.

Kamloops’s lack of affordable housing options is well discussed in the CFJC today news. The Housing Scam Alert was issued by TRU in 2016 as some people want to make money on the limited housing market in the city. The comprehensive resource for affordable housing options in Kamloops is available from city of Kamloops website. Kamloops Non-Profit Housing Inventory (2012) has also been created as a way to find affordable housing in Kamloops. BC housing has pdfs listings for Family, Singles & Couples, Seniors & Adults with disabilities and Seniors’ Supportive Housing options. Seniors’ Housing in BC guide is also online. Homeless Hub provides updated statistics on homelessness and actions taken by the city to address the concern. Amanda Crabbe offers detailed analyses on how to map deprivation for the small city using Kamloops as an example in her research publication and video.

The City of Kamloops consists of these primary planning neighbourhoods: City Centre, North Shore, Valleyview, Dallas, Raleigh, Heffley Creek, Sahali, Aberdeen, Knutsford, Brocklehurst, Batchelor Heights, Westsyde. Juniper Ridge, Mount Dufferin, Rose Hill, Campbell Creek, Barnhartvale, Mission Flats, Tranquille on the Lake so do your research on where you plan to live and know your area. Here is the list of the Kamloops Postal Codes. One can click on the name of the selected neighbourhood to find the recent neighbourhood plan or Google one for your neighbourhood. If you have money to invest CBC Kamloops states that the South Shore is one of the 100 top neighbourhoods to invest in real estate in Canada based on the Canadian real estate wealth magazine.  The Kamloops Plan (KAMPLAN) can help one to know each area of the city. BC Transit Plan for Kamloops is also available online as well as The BC Transit Rider Info for Kamloops and the pdf version of the 2016 riders’ guide.

The water system in Kamloops is considered to be one of the most sophisticated water distribution systems in Canada. Kamloops enjoys some of the safest and cleanest water on the continent. You can take the group tour of the Kamloops Center for Water Quality.

The crime situation in Kamloops is also well documented online. The Crime Intelligence Unit Kamloops RCMP produced a report on how the crime rate was reduced in Kamloops by 55% from 2007 to 2009. MacLeans magazine compiles crime rates data from Statistics Canada. Based on the reported data Kamloops has a high ranking on drug crime, higher than the average on non-violent crime, average violent crime and higher than average crime severity index.

Enjoy living in Kamloops and hopefully your housing needs and housing related questions can be answered by reading this post.