Category Archives: Housing

Cost of Climate Change, Disaster, Housing

FireSmarting Rainbow Ridge

Part 3 of 3

There hasn’t been a major wildfire on Cortes Island for decades, but this could change as our summer’s grow hotter and drier. The Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing project is being designed with this in mind.

“The main idea is to try to have more of a FireSmart community and get rid of the conifers that are much more prone to embers catching fire and then catching the neighbor’s houses and vehicles on fire, like we saw in the California fires this winter,” explained Mark Lombard, speaking on behalf of the Cortes Housing Society. 

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Housing

Rainbow Ridge Phase One: What’s Going To Happen To the Logs And Branches

Part 2 of 3

A four acre clearing was carved out of the forest in downtown Mansons Landing to make way for the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing Development. A crew was busy piling the last of the logs when Cortes Currents arrived on site, and the ground was covered with branches, wood debris and stumps. Construction on the first building is expected to start in a month, which means a lot of wood is going to have to disappear. 

What is the Cortes Housing Society going to do with it? 

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Housing

Phase One At Rainbow Ridge: Boundaries With The Senior’s Village And Firehall

Part 1 0f 3

There were a couple of changes in the plan for the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing Development as the site was cleared. A small parcel of land along the northern border of the property was given to the Cortes Island Fire Department, to enable it to expand. Plans for a hedge of trees between Rainbow Ridge and the Cortes Island Senior’s Village were altered.

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Housing

Land Sharing on Cortes Island

Tune in on March 14th for another collaborative monthly housing forum presented by the Cortes Housing Society, and supported by Folk University. Themed “Land Sharing”, this forum featured 5 local Cortesian guest speakers chatting about different land-sharing formats (Tiber Bay, Siskin Lane, land partnerships, living estates, and more!), what has worked for them, and what hasn’t. This hybrid-style forum took place on March 8, 2025, in-person at Manson’s Hall and over Zoom.

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Housing

RIEP Presentation: Affordable Housing Across The Islands

One of the 2025 RIEP Virtual Forum presentations was a panel discussion of how the affordable housing societies were faring on six rural islands. There were a lot of common themes running throughout their stories: difficulties obtaining funding through BC Housing, CMHC and other organizations whose requirements are drawn up for urban rather than rural areas; the cost of building on remote islands; relationships with regional districts and Islands Trust; and water issues. The moderator was Mike Hoebel from the  Galiano Affordable Living Initiative Society (GALI).

Mike Hoebel: “The lack of affordable housing is truly a crisis in our communities and housing policy was a major item for discussion back at the RIEP 2023 In-Person Forum Gabriola. Today we’re going to hear from a number of people about housing related initiatives underway in their communities.”

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