Tag Archives: Empty houses

Housing, Politics

Empty condos may get second life as affordable housing in BC

By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Empty condos and a housing crisis coexist in Metro Vancouver, and the federal and provincial governments believe they have a fix.

Under a new 10-year agreement, the Carney government says it will spend more than $5 billion across the province for housing, transit and related infrastructure through the Build Communities Strong Fund. Part of the deal is a plan to turn more than 2,200 of BC’s vacant condo units into affordable housing. In its June 18 announcement, the Prime Minister’s Office called it “one of the fastest and most efficient ways to increase housing supply.” 

But the plan is igniting debate about whether governments can turn expensive private-market condos into affordable homes or if public money will simply help developers and lenders clear units they couldn’t otherwise sell. 

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Housing

Cortes Housing talks about Aquifers, Rental Opportunities & More

There has been a lot going on at the Cortes Community Housing Society. They are starting to provide housing for the community, are supporting changes to the island’s bylaws and are acting as a matchmaker for potential renters and landlords. However the first story I want to cover this morning is about the aquifer study that is about to begin.  

“We just received a grant from the Real Estate Foundation to develop an aquifer health assessment for our island. A lot of the islands south of us are having water problems and we really want to get ahead of this by being proactive and understanding what’s happening on our own island.  With climate change, obviously many of the assumptions of how things work are changing, but getting baseline and putting in together some things that we as a community can do to protect our water systems seems important to do before we have the kind of problems that we’ve seen  in other communities,” explained Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Housing Society.  

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Housing

Community Meeting for Cortes Zoning Bylaw Update

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Around 60 people turned out for the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) zoning bylaw meeting in Mansons Hall at 1 PM on Wednesday, March 6. 

The meeting went very differently from how the SRD planned it. There was to have been a short presentation, after which participants were to have gathered around two maps and put sticky dots on the properties where the bylaws should be changed to allow for greater densification. Instead, this was a community conversation.

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Housing

What They Heard: The Cortes Housing Report

The ‘What We Heard Report,’ from Cortes Island’s Housing Forum and the subsequent Housing Survey, has been released. 

“This is a really exciting document for Cortes. The intention of this forum that we did with the Cortes Housing Society and the Housing Survey was really to listen to Cortes and understand what the housing challenges are. We already had a pretty good idea from previous reports and information, but this really gave us a good sense of what the challenges are and then what do people want us to move forward with?” explained Mark Vonesh, Regional Director for Cortes Island. 

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Housing, Poverty

What the Cortes Housing Survey Says: Problems And Possibilities

Two hundred and sixty-five people (265) filled out responses to the Cortes Island Housing survey which was carried out by the Cortes Community Housing Society and Regional Director Mark Vonesch. While this is only about 30% of the adult population, their answers provide a clear picture of the current housing situation, as well as specific areas where the majority of the population appear to support change.

“Other housing surveys they’ve done in the past have just broken over 100, so people are really engaged around this issue,” explained Vonesch. “40% of the people who responded to the survey have been here for over 20 years, which is significant.  The people that have been here for a long time and seen a lot of changes over the years and seen the way that Cortes is going and where it’s at now and where it has been.” 

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