Tag Archives: CRD

Housing

Residential Upzone Proposal for Cortes Island

By Carrie Saxifrage

We are lucky to have impressive work toward affordable housing by our  Regional Director Mark Vonesch, Cortes Island Housing Society Executive Director Sadhu Johnston, Cortes Foundation  Executive Director Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Cortes Community Economic Development Association ​​Economic Development Officer Kate Maddigan, donors who make all this possible and everyone else helping the community as a whole. Also, the 2002 bylaws have worked really well for us, especially the foresight regarding forest zones. Thanks to those who engaged in that process. I hope, if you have thoughts about the proposed revision, you will let the SRD know. 

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Transportation

BC Ferries CEO speaks to Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce about navigating through growing pains

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A sense of optimism and ambition marked BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez’s update to members of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and other regional stakeholders on Tuesday morning. It also served as a report card and warning that expensive changes and subsequent fare increases are definitely on the horizon. 

By 2028, a 30% fare increase will be necessary just to stay at its current levels of service, he said. The increase represents a necessary shift in BC Ferries’ priorities around fleet and infrastructure upgrades.

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Housing, Poverty

Options ever slimming for unhoused people attached to Pandora

Editor’s note: Greater Victoria’s most recent Point of Time Count, taken on March 7, 2020, found 1,665 people experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness continues to be a problem throughout our region and the rest of British Columbia. When the Cortes Island Housing survery was carried out in 2023, 8 of the 265 respondents were ‘unhoused.’ Point in Time counts in urban areas like Campbell River, the Comox Valley and Powell River found 197, 272 and 126 ‘unhoused’ people, respectively. A quarter of the respondents in Campbell River reported they had been homeless for less than 6 months and the #1 explanation all respondents gave was they did not have enough money to pay rent. 16% of the respondents in Campbell River, 20% in the Comox Valley and 12% in Powell River reported a full or part-me job.

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After a series of City of Victoria tent-clearing operations along the Pandora corridor in the fall, interlocking blue fencing was installed to deter illegal sheltering along its 900 block. At around the same time, a facility at 926 Pandora used by people to store their belongings was shuttered. 

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Jobs, Poverty

Living Wage Symposium brought multiple sectors together to tackle the affordability crisis

Editor’s note: This is a local issue. 33% of the respondents to the most recent Point In Time count of Campbell River’s unhoused population said they lost their homes because of insufficient income. In the Comox Valley, this statistic rose to 56%. According to the 2021 Census, 38% of the renters in those areas are paying more than they can afford for shelter. This is also true on Quadra Island and on Cortes Island the number of tenants paying unaffordable rents was 47%.

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On Wednesday morning, representatives from the not-for-profit, private and public sectors gathered at the Living Wage Symposium at Victoria City Hall to discuss creative ways they can address the economic squeeze people are feeling in the CRD. The event was organized by the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria (CSPC) in partnership with the United Way Southern Vancouver Island, Vancity, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Living wage Families for BC.  

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Rivers & Oceans

Opportunity to install ‘fish friendly’ flood infrastructure in the Lower Fraser Valley

The recent mega-floods have brought an opportunity to rectify one of the problems that has long plagued salmon runs in the Lower Fraser Valley. Hundreds of miles of outdated flood protection infrastructure has been chopping fish up when they return home to spawn. Now much of it will have to be repaired or replaced. The Watershed Watch Salmon Society sees this as the opportunity to install ‘fish friendly’ flood infrastructure in its place.

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