Tag Archives: Rainbow Ridge

SRD Looking Into Providing Preliminary Road For Rainbow Ridge

At the November 22nd meeting,  the SRD board approved a report to explore the possibility of using Cortes Island’s gas tax reserve to help build the access road into the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing project.

“It’s really great to see the SRD jumping in to work on housing using all the different tools that they have access to. This was led by our Regional Director, Mark Vonesch, who brought this to the SRD board. What was approved at this point is the request to have staff work on a report,” explained Sadhu Johnson, Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society.  

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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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‘On The Brink’ of Success; The Cortes Housing Society Changes Leadership 

After five years at the helm of the Cortes Community Housing Society, Sandra Wood has stepped down. She continues to be involved with the society as a grant writer, a service which she provided Cortes Island with for more than a decade.

“The exciting news is we have a wonderful replacement who’s going to be stepping in to take over the leadership of the Housing Society and that person is Sadhu Johnston (pictured above). I couldn’t have found a better qualified person than Sadhu on Cortes Island.  I’d really like Sadhu to speak to some of his past experience and credentials,” she said.  

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A Blueprint for Cortes Island’s future: Why the Conversation Cafes are important

The Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA) is hosting an in-person community discussion with Cortes Island’s small businesses in the Pioneer Room at Mansons Hall on Thursday Sept 14, 2023. 

This is the first in a series of 6 ‘Conversation Cafes’ meant to update Cortes Island’s Local Economic Action Plan (LEAP) in an inexpensive way. 

 “Our Local Economic Action Plan is five years out of date,” said Kate Maddigan, CCEDA’s Economic Development Officer.  

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