Tune in on May 31st for the third collaborative monthly housing forum presented by the Cortes Housing Society and Folk University. Themed “Community Land Trusts”, this forum featured guest panelists John Davis, Sandy Bishop, and Lisa Byers and a following community discussion. This is a recording of the third monthly housing forum in mid-May, hosted over Zoom, with 28 people in attendance. Hear us chat about community land trust initiatives on islands in the US, Canada, and internationally, and about how these ideas could be applicable to Cortes.
Cortes Community Housing purchased a property with two houses at 671 Sutil Point Road. This will be the first property to go into the island’s new land trust, formed in response to Cortes Island’s housing forum last December.
“The housing society has been active on Cortes for 6 or 7 years and made a lot of progress in buying Rainbow Ridge. Having that acreage for housing and community needs is a really great opportunity and sets us apart in many ways from some of our other island neighbors like Quadra, for instance, where they’re working to acquire land,” explained Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of Cortes Community Housing.
From March through July of this year, Cortes Housing Society — in partnership with FolkU — is presenting a series of monthly forums featuring guest speakers and community discussion. These forums will address the vexed issue of housing — both price and availability — which remains a serious problem for the island.
The invited speakers have expertise in various aspects of this problem, and some will be sharing results from successful projects in other communities. Cortes Currents interviewed Sadhu Aufochs Johnston, executive director of the Housing Society, to find out more about this event series.
