According to the 2024 Interim Housing Needs Report, in the next two years Cortes Island will need another 95 new housing units and Area C will need another 270.
The studies underlying assumption is that the Discovery Island’s population will continue to grow by 8% over the next few years.
Continue reading Discovery Islands in the 2024 Interim Housing Needs Report
Three days after he was sworn in as Premier of British Columbia, David Eby unveiled new legislation designed to increase the pace of new construction, remove age restrictions in stratas (except for the +55 restriction that promotes seniors housing) and tap the supply of vacant units for the rental market.
Continue reading Coming before the SRD Board, proposed provincial responses to the housing crisis
According to data from the 2016 census, 20% of Quadra Island residents and 27% of Cortes Island residents are paying more for their homes in rent or mortgages than they can afford. More recent studies suggest that a significant number of families throughout the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) are so financially stretched that they are at risk of becoming homeless. 75% of the ‘housing insecure’ respondents to the ‘Collecting Stories of Where We Live’ survey on Cortes Island, and 33% on Quadra Island, are working. These are some of the people North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney is referring to, when she talks about the need for a bar of dignity.
Continue reading Rachel Blaney: Canada needs a ‘Bar of Dignity’
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
One senior spoke about the anxiety she feels not having a family doctor after losing four in the past eight years.
Another, the president of the local seniors centre, asked what she should tell a woman in her 80s crying on the phone because she’s got nowhere to live and is reduced to the indignity of couch-surfing with friends after a lifetime of paying taxes.
Continue reading With no place to live, some B.C. seniors are couch-surfing
Sandy MacKay, of M’akola Development Services, presented the Electoral Areas Housing needs Report to the SRD Board on Wednesday.
See: Rural Housing Survey 1: unaffordable rents, vacant houses, Airbnbs
“Collectively working with federal provincial entities and advocating for more non-market housing, will be key to reducing the gap between what people can afford and what is available in your markets. Non-market housing tends to be dedicated, affordable, and appropriate. It usually takes on the form of something called secured affordable housing, which is secured at an affordable rate in perpetuity, typically funded by senior government and operated by a non-profit,” he explained.
Continue reading Rural Housing Survey 3: The key to addressing rural housing needs
