Aerial view of the houses and forest canopy surrounding Cortes Bay

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.” 

According to the press release accompanying the Housing survey, 175 of the respondents were property owners. 56% of them own their property outright, but half of those with mortgages have higher payments than they can reasonably afford. 82 of the respondents were renters, 42% of whom are paying more than 33% of their income on housing. This is more than what CMHC states is affordable and they’re regarded as ‘at risk.’  The remaining 8 respondents were ‘unhoused.’

Mark Vonesch: “Probably two thirds of the people that filled out the survey also wrote a paragraph or five in the comment section saying ‘here’s my answer, but here’s the specifics of why I said that.’  We thought about releasing all these comments right now, but I think it’s really important  to protect people’s privacy and we want to do it in a sort of thoughtful way that captures the essence of what most people are saying, but doesn’t make people feel vulnerable as they’re sharing the vulnerable things.” 

Cortes Currents: What were the key points that the majority of the population already appears to agree we should act on?

Mark Vonesch: “67% of the people said that they would support an empty homes tax on Cortes. Only 18% said ‘no.’ What would that tax look like? Is it even possible? How is it done? Can we do it in a Regional District way? Do we have to lobby the government? There’s lots of details to work out, but this is showing that a large proportion of people think the idea is a good thing.”

“We asked, ’Do you support Cortes opting into BC government legislation so people can only operate short term rentals on land that includes their primary residence?’ This would mean that if you live in Victoria and you buy a property on Cortes, you can’t just Airbnb it out. Either rent it out long term, or not at all. 21% of people said ‘no’ to that, almost 16% were ‘unsure’ and 63% said ‘yes.’” 

“‘Do you support Cortes opting into BC government legislation allowing greater density on lots currently zoned for single family homes?’ 261 people answered this question; 72% of them said yes.” 

“In the comments, which people haven’t seen  in the results here –  and my belief around this stuff – is that we have to do this thoughtfully.”

“We can’t just open it up and increase density everywhere.  We need to look at things environmentally; we need to look at things as far as wildlife corridors; we need to look at our water situation. We need to think about what we’re doing  in terms of growing Cortes and our connection to climate change. A lot of people said that was important. Let’s densify in a way that makes sense and creates opportunities for local people, gets renters that want to buy land – buying land.”

“I think one of the bases that we need to look at before we just start expanding in any way, is what is our aquifer situation?  I have a meeting this week with an agency in Nanaimo that does aquifer health assessments. This is an organization that can come in, do a thorough investigation of our watershed, our aquifers and basically give us some answers on what is the carrying capacity of Cortes, considering climate change, considering the struggles that people are already having.”

“We need to look at what’s going to happen in 20 years? How many more people can we hold? What is the state of our aquifer and watershed health? What can we do to protect that and what can we do to make sure that we’re not like Gabriola?  I’ve friends on Gabriola and they’re shipping in water every summer because their wells are literally running dry consistently and getting worse.” 

“Climate change is getting worse. We’re already looking at a dry winter. People are saying next summer is going to be even drier. We have to be smart around how we develop, and water is an important part of that.” 

Cortes Currents: Is this something that the Regional District would need to seek the electorate’s approval for? 

Mark Vonesch: “We are not creating a new tax service here, so there’s no referendum or alternative approval process needed. These are adjustments to our bylaws that will happen through a process of community feedback, coming back to the board as a draft or staff receiving feedback and eventually getting approved if Strathcona Regional District Board feels that it’s what Cortes Island wants and needs.” 

“As far as the zoning bylaw process that’s starting today (Dec 11), the SRD staff are going to listen  to Cortes Islanders that show up at the meeting and give their written responses over the next little while. They’re going to take all that data and come up with a new zoning draft bylaw. That’s going to come back to the community. There’ll be another round of feedback. They’ll create a final draft. It’ll go to the SRD board and I think a lot of people will be looking to me as to whether this is accurate and what folks on Cortes want. I’ll be saying yes or no. The rest of the board will vote what they think is best as well. This is something that doesn’t go through  an alternative approval process or a referendum. This is just us amending our bylaws, getting feedback from the community and making sure that we get it right and hopefully we do.” 

Cortes Currents: There was another potential game changer in that survey. Tell us about the owners who might be open to renting their property out.

Mark Vonesch: “We asked ‘Do you have space that you would be open to renting if the conditions were right.’ 173 people responded to this question.  34% of the people said ‘no.’ 40% said ‘yes, a space on my land for a tiny house.’ That’s really huge and another 12% said they have a room in their house. 20% of people said they have a house or cabin available, if the conditions were right.” 

“The question I’m asking myself is how can we make the conditions right for people to be able to rent out and make available the spaces that we already have? I think this is one of the lowest hanging fruits and one of the most exciting things that’s come out of the survey. There is room on Cortes that we can make available, and how do we do that?”

Cortes Currents: What did the survey have to say about the current situation on Cortes?

Mark Vonesch: “98.5% of the people that responded have housing, that leaves 1.5% of people who responded who don’t have housing.” 

He made a projection of what this might look like in the wider population.

Mark Vonesch: “That’s between 11 and 18 people on Cortes that are living rough, or in their mom’s basement, or they’re on a boat, or they’re living in a shed or a trailer that doesn’t have power connected to it. Sure, you’re housed. You have a place, but there’s no heat. You have a two burner gas stove that is your only heat and cooking source. I’ve met a senior who’s living in a tent and has a trailer for cooking.”

 “Almost 20% of the people that responded live in tiny homes, so we know that people are using it already. For some people, it’s a great option and they’re happy. For families  it can be a last option as well.” 

The term tiny home can apply to anything from fully equipped housing units with all the amenities, to crude shacks. 

Mark Vonesch: “I’ve heard of people building a tiny house out of  scrap lumber and stuff from the Free Store for $2,000. Some people love that;  and a lot of people are desperate. When people are desperate, they find creative solutions to make sure their basic needs are met. There are  people that would much rather live in a regular house.”

“87% of the renters on Cortes said, ‘I would love to buy a piece of land if I could afford it’ and we’ve seen from past housing surveys that people can’t afford it. The average person in Cortes can afford a $209,000 mortgage from the last housing survey, and the average listing price at that time was $794,000. That’s a huge gap between what the listing prices are and what people can afford.”

Cortes Currents: 230 people responded to the question, ‘is the home you’re living in missing any of these amenities?’ 

Mark Vonesch: “8 people don’t have power. 10 people don’t have heat.”

Cortes Currents: Not even wood stoves?  

Mark Vonesch: “The question as ‘Is your house missing heat?’ I don’t think that if people had a wood stove they would say ‘yes’ to that.”

“19 people out of 230 don’t have hot water.” 

“When I first moved to Cortes, I lived in a trailer with a small child and my partner. We didn’t have hot water for one winter. It is a lot of work and I was also carrying water and heating up when you wanted to do dishes. It’s a lot of work.” 

“27 people don’t have bathing facilities; 69 don’t have an indoor toilet.” 

“Only 62% of the 230 that responded said that they have all the amenities that I just listed. So I think it’s important to just understand that people are struggling with housing and, whether they’re saying it all or not, they’re struggling.”

“I just really appreciate everyone filling out the survey.  I’m feeling really hopeful for the future and I feel like Cortes can really be an example  for addressing the housing challenges that we face and getting away from the idea that we just need  to build Rainbow Ridge.” 

Cortes Currents: Let’s talk a little bit more about one of the solutions. 60% of the owners who responded said that under the right conditions, they might be willing to rent out either land or housing.  So we’re potentially talking about adding another105 units. 

What would that mean in terms of the total housing need? And if we were to open up 105 spaces, how could we ensure  that actually goes to Cortes Islanders?  Also we have a lot of Cortes expats who had to move off the island and some of them would probably like to come back

Mark Vonesch: “So somebody has a room for a tiny house on their land, maybe there’s some sort of intermediary agency that helps them with the contracts or lease agreements for them to be able to have someone else move a tiny house onto their land and maybe that intermediary agency also helps finance the $100,000 or $90,000, whatever it is  for a tiny house. How do you decide who gets to do that?” 

“When you’re working on private land, I don’t think it’s  my role or the government’s role to say who’s going to do it.”

“People renting out their home – or their cabin, or a spot for a tiny house in their land – need to figure out if that person is the right person for them. I think there’s room for an intermediary agency to help that and take some of the risk away and support the process so that’s easy for both parties, but the decision of ‘who’ is really an agreement between the land owner and the potential leaseholder or renter.” 

“When it comes to Rainbow Ridge,  that’s more of a public process that needs to be fair and transparent and, I think, ensure that the people that most need it have access to it. There has to be  some sort of way to prioritize people that have been on Cortes the longest and struggle for housing on Cortes, rather than just people that came to Cortes two summers ago and say, ‘Oh, I’d love to live here.’”

“I think the first step of doing densification and growth in a smart way is to start with housing the folks who already live here. Let’s address the renters that don’t feel like they have access  to purchasing land. Let’s address the people who can’t find stable rentals because they have to move out every summer. Let’s address the housing that people are living in that’s inadequate for a variety of reasons. Let’s start there before we start saying Cortes is open for business to whoever wants to live here.”

“I think that’s something that most people that I’ve spoken to can agree on. Let’s start with the folks that are here.” 

“In the case of Klahoose, who’ve also been making tons of strides on housing and are part of  what’s happening on Cortes is,  they want to provide housing and to be able to help bring their members back. I think that’s something  we can all support and get behind. This housing survey gives us some strong indication of what people are looking for and I still think we need to do it in a  prudent way that takes advantage of the lowest hanging fruit.”

There was not time to also connect with the Cortes Community Housing Society, which were the other partner in this survey.

Top image credit: 2022 flyover Cortes Bay – Roy L Hales photo

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