The first tenants have been living at Rainbow Ridge for a month, and Cortes Island’s affordable housing complex is now offering tours of the site.
There were fifteen of us on Saturday, July 24. Most were curious neighbours, but a couple of people asked about rental rates, and there were also a couple of tourists. One summer resident, who does not have a washer or dryer, was very interested in the laundry club that will operate out of the community building.
Mark Lombard, the construction manager, gave Cortes Currents an interview after the tour. Work was in progress in a nearby building and construction noises periodically enter the audio.
Mark Lombard: “We have tenants in. A mom and a kid moved into each of the first two units. One moved in on June 27 (Photo at top of page) , and another on July 1.”
Cortes Currents: And you’re offering tours of the site?
Mark Lombard: “Just for the summer. We’re doing tours every Friday at 2:00. I think today was fairly typical; there were maybe 15 or so people.”
Cortes Currents: How did the units come in terms of cost?
Mark Lombard: “I don’t have the exact numbers, but I can tell you that we came in within plus or minus 1% or 2% of budget. I think we allowed a contingency of 5% on the buildings. On the first duplex, I think we’re just a tiny bit under budget, and on the community building, we’re basically right on budget.”
Tenants & Selection Criteria
Cortes Currents: What’s your backlog like for tenants?
Mark Lombard: “It’s hard to measure exactly because, over the first couple of years, as the Cortes Island Housing Society was conceiving this project, we did some high-level surveys to find out about people’s housing needs and who was experiencing a housing shortage. We had well over 100 people who needed housing.”
“When we went to rent out the homes at Orchard Village, the property that the Cortes Housing Society purchased two years ago, it was actually hard to rent out the four-bedroom house. There was less need for a four-bedroom than we had expected.”
“More recently, last fall, the Housing Society had a subcommittee of the board, along with some staff, design a very thoughtful set of criteria to evaluate potential renters before putting out a call for applicants for these homes.”
“When we put out the call, about a dozen people put their names forward for the first two-bedroom units. They were ranked based on the criteria that the subcommittee had established beforehand. The first five two-bedroom units were rented out in the order that the subcommittee determined, to the best of its ability, reflected the most immediate need.”
Cortes Currents: What were the criteria?
Mark Lombard: “It was quite a long list — more than a page — but there were questions like: How long have you lived on Cortes? Do you work on Cortes? Do you have family on Cortes? Do you participate in community organizations? Seniors and First Nations people were also among the criteria considered.”
Rental Rates and Affordability
Cortes Currents: What is the cost to tenants? I know they were originally going to be affordable housing. Then they were going to come in at market price. I told my daughter, who lives in Campbell River, the price, and she said, “What? That’s way under market price!”
Mark Lombard: “It’s a bit of a hybrid of all of those things. Initially, the Housing Society was applying for BC Housing funding, which is true affordable housing because they provide a subsidy for construction and a 30-year rent subsidy to keep rents low.”
“We were unsuccessful three years in a row with that application, so we decided to fundraise and get started on our own. After a lot of consideration by the board, we chose to charge between $1,290 and $1,400 a month for the two-bedroom units, on a sliding scale based on people’s ability to pay.”
“Our construction cost is probably about 70% more than what you’d be able to finance with that level of rental income. So we are well under market price, even just for construction costs, let alone servicing a mortgage with financing — and that also depends on interest rates.
We couldn’t go out and get any kind of mortgage based on the rental income from the first building to finance construction of the second one, if that helps answer the question.”
“It’s a really specific set of questions: What’s market housing? What’s affordable housing? And all of those kinds of things. So, just to be clear, there is no subsidy, but we are charging well under market.”
BC Hydro is Coming
Cortes Currents: When will BC Hydro arrive?
Mark Lombard: “Our sincere hope is that installation will get started roughly three weeks from now, so maybe mid-August. The installation will probably take about three weeks. Then, once it’s completed, it will take about a month for BC Hydro to complete its verifications, system upgrades, and so on, and then turn the power on.”
“At this point, the best-case scenario is mid-September, which is an absolute imperative because we have people living in those homes, and we’re running a fairly big job site while building four units at the same time. We need electricity.”
“It’s been a long road getting BC Hydro. We’re very close, but it’s really hard to say the exact date.”
The Laundry Club
Washers and dryers have been installed in the Community Building for Cortes residents, as well as inhabitants of the complex. People wishing to use them need to join the laundry club.
Cortes Currents: I’m not sure if you were here when the lady on the tour was asking when the laundry club was going to be ready?
Mark Lombard: “As soon as we have the BC Hydro connection.”
Cortes Currents: Right away?
Mark Lombard: “Yeah, everything’s ready to go. We just need BC Hydro.”
Solar Power
Cortes Currents: How is the solar working out?
Mark Lombard: “The solar is working out really well. I can’t say enough about how grateful we are to Wired Electrical. They designed and installed the system.”
“On the community building, we have an 18-kilowatt solar array and a 22-kilowatt-hour battery system. The primary function of that system was to provide backup power for the well, the water system, the septic system, plus some lights and basic heat in the community building when the power goes out. Right now, it’s running those systems because we don’t have a BC Hydro connection.”
“We also have 13-kilowatt solar systems for each of the units in the duplex, as well as another 22-kilowatt-hour battery for each unit. So right now, they’re running completely on solar and battery.”
“It works quite well until around the end of October, but once we get into November, December, January, and February, it really isn’t adequate. It still makes some electricity, and as soon as you get a bright afternoon or a bright morning, you start generating electricity. But we need to get on the grid. These systems are meant as backups. We live in a climate that just doesn’t support year-round solar PV.”
Cortes Currents: Last winter, you had solar, but you also had to get that extra boost from the fire hall.
Mark Lombard: “We started out very briefly with an extra boost from the fire hall, but we rented out our tiny house to the paramedics last winter during construction of the new paramedics’ living quarters, and that building took the little bit of extra electricity that was available.”
“So I ran my generator a lot this winter. We also took temporary electricity during the first couple of months of this year from the nearest seniors village cottage. That was a bit of a challenge as well. Right now, we’re just running on solar.”
Final Thoughts
Cortes Currents: Is there anything you would like to add?
Mark Lombard: “I would just say that this project has been in the works for a long time, and it has taken a really dedicated team of volunteers and paid staff to make it come together. We have a really good team.”
Links of Interest:
- Our First Duplex is Complete – Cortes Housing Society
- Cortes Island Housing Society (website)
- Articles about, or mentioning, Rainbow Ridge
All undesignated photos by Roy L Hales
Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:
To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:
- Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – [email protected]
- Weekly Digest cortescurrents – [email protected]