Tag Archives: Affordable Rentals

Cortes Island’s First Housing Forum

About 100 people came together for Cortes Island’s first Housing Forum on Saturday, December 2, in Mansons Hall.   

There were break-out sessions devoted to tiny homes, rental housing, short term rentals, worker housing, empty homes, landlord-tenant relations, home upgrades and making land and home ownership more affordable. A session devoted to environmental issues was added at the last minute. 

The Forum began with opening addresses by Regional Director Mark Vonesch and Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society.  

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Regional Director’s Notice – The Cortes Housing Forum

 Hello Cortes Island, this is Mark Vonesch, your Regional Director. 

I’m hoping to have as many of you as possible attend the housing forum on Saturday, December 2nd at Manson’s Hall. The Cortes housing forum is a chance for us to all get together and listen to each other and talk about the pressing issues that we’re facing.

We’re going to do a little bit of  presenting what’s the current state of housing on Cortes, but really it’s about asking questions and getting people to share their experiences and their opinions and ideas for addressing the challenges that we face.

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Northern B.C. struggling with social issues, Salvation Army says

Editor’s note: While this report is from a northern city, the problems are province wide. As of November 30, the Cortes Island Food Bank is not even half way towards its goal of raising $25,000. However there has been a 14-fold-increase in the number of clients since October 2022. According to Food Banks BC, there has been a 57% increase of usage across the province and a 30% drop in donations. Recent Point In Time counts in Campbell River, the Comox Valley, Powell River and the Sunshine Coast show a marked increase in the number of homeless people, and the #1 cause cited by respondents is insufficient incomes.

By Tom Summer, Alaska Highway News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Residents in the Peace are struggling with inflation – food prices, fuel, rent and mortgage increases and more – as the Fort St. John Salvation Army starts its 2023 Christmas kettle campaign.

The organization operates at a few locations in Fort St. John – running a food bank, a thrift store, and transitional housing at the Northern Centre of Hope. Forty residents are supported through transitional housing and 32 tenants live in supportive housing at the centre. 

Inflation and rising food costs have been a notable challenge in the past year, says Executive Director Jared Braun, in addition to rising fuel costs at the pump, mortgage increases, rent increases, and more. 

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Mark Vonesch: How A Little Government Can Address The Housing Crisis

At 9:30 AM on Dec 2, Regional Director Mark Vonesch will be joining the Cortes Housing Society to host a community forum in Mansons Hall.* In today’s interview, he gave a sampling of how a little government could help make housing more affordable 

“We are in a housing crisis. Housing is expensive to build and we don’t have enough of it. What can we do as a community in Cortes to get more affordable housing done? Like a lot of issues, we have to approach this from multiple angles. There’s not one thing that’s going to  solve the problem. It’s basically three things.”

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The December 2nd Housing Forum at Mansons Hall

Editor’s note: the time for this event has been changed to 9:30, as now written below.

The Cortes Community Housing Society and Regional Director Mark Vonesch will be teaming up to hold a Housing Forum at Mansons Hall from 9:30 AM to 12:00 on December 2nd. 

“Cortes is a very innovative community. We have an incredible ‘can do’ resilient spirit on this island and have done amazing things. I do think that Cortes could be a real leader for the province, and the country, around rural housing solutions. With the resources and the ingenuity, the land, the partnerships, I think we can do some amazing things here on Cortes,” explained Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society. 

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