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. 

A Framework for Taking Action

“It really gives us a framework and direction for taking action following the political will of the people. Which is really exciting because it’s really easy to be like, ‘I think this is a good idea,’ but this really gives us the information to move forward in a way that we know we’re following the will of what Cortes wants.”

“I think it puts Cortes in a really exciting place. Not many communities have such a strong roadmap for making change. I’m really excited to work with the Cortes Housing Society and the Strathcona Regional District and, various levels of government, to move forward with the action items that have been outlined in the survey and all of the discussions that happened in the breakout groups during the housing forum in December.”

Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Cortes Community Housing Society, agreed, “ It feels like a good step forward and it’s a good culmination of lots of feedback from people through the survey and in person and online, but there’s lots of work to be done.”

No ‘Driving Til You Qualify’

CC: What are the highlights of this report?

Sadhu Johnston: “I guess the highlight for me is just the extent to which people participated in the survey and in the in-person consultation and online. This is clearly an issue that’s near and dear to a lot of people on Cortes Island.”

“At the forum, I was a little bit surprised that there were so many people  that own property, and aren’t at risk of losing housing, but are  very concerned about the challenges on Cortes. It really feels to me like there’s a pretty broad recognition of people that are living on the island, or spending time on the island, that the housing crisis is  a threat to the community diversity and  the very fabric of the community that we all love so much. That was  really made clear to me in the  type of comments that I heard and the way that people were showing up.” 

Looking back to his years as the City Manager, and prior to that the Deputy City Manager. of Vancouver (2009-2021), Johnston observed, “I worked a lot on affordable housing in Vancouver. In Vancouver, if the housing in the community isn’t affordable, people drive further away or take the train further or the bus in order to live.  There’s this old saying, “drive until you qualify,’ which is really driving further and further out into the suburbs until you can qualify for a mortgage that you can  make work.” 

“In a community like Vancouver – the businesses that we rely on, the community of teachers and others – can still function because people are driving further and further out, which is not good for the environment or for their quality of life or for the health of a community, but the community could still work.”

“On Cortes, there’s no ‘driving till you qualify,’ there’s leaving. If you can’t find housing,  it’s not like you can just drive to the neighbouring community and find housing. As people that can’t afford to be there or can’t find housing leave, many of those houses  are being sold to people that are not on Cortes as much so there’s more and more empty homes and under-utilized homes.  That combination really is resulting in a fundamental risk  to the community that we love so much.  That was just really brought home to me  in talking to people over the last couple of months, in the housing forum, and in the survey.”  

“People want us to do something about it, which is really good to see. There’s maybe not 100 percent alignment on what to do, but there’s a lot of alignment on a number of the things to do.”

Empty Houses

Mark Vonesch: “I think the big takeaway is that there’s not one solution for housing on Cortes, the housing solutions on Cortes need to be multifaceted.  Let’s start with the lowest hanging fruit.” 

“The cheapest housing ‘to build’ is the housing that’s already there. One of the things that came out of the survey and the report is that there’s a lot of housing on Cortes that’s sitting empty.” 

“There’s a lot of people on Cortes who would rent their place out, or rent a room in their house, or rent their cabin out, or would rent a pad for a tiny house if they weren’t so worried about having to deal with bad tenants. I think it is very valid. In the past years tenant rights have really increased,  which is great for tenants, but the impact on landlords is that they’ve been shy to rent their places out. There’s a lot of landlords on Cortes who’d be willing to rent, but  aren’t willing to take the risk of dealing  with potential tenants who don’t pay their rent, or might wreck their place, or aren’t respectful, and it could be difficult to get them out of there.” 

“One of the solutions is an intermediary organization that acts as an intermediary between potential renters and landlords. That’s for straight up renting houses or cabins, but also, taking advantage  of programs that match people with rooms (in houses). How can we take advantage of the houses already there, alleviate some of the risks and fears that landlords have to rent out to people and create a better atmosphere ? An intermediary organization that was run by the Cortes Housing Society would be a really great first step, and the report really showed strong support from the community to do that.”

Sadhu Johnston: “The idea of some kind of housing intermediary came up a number of times. There’s just a lot of opportunities there that I’m very interested to explore.” 

Empty House Tax

CC: One of the ideas in the survey was implementing a vacancy tax on empty homes. 

Sadhu Johnston: “In the survey, the in-person discussions and during the forum, it just became clear that there was strong interest in exploring  how we might implement a vacancy tax for Cortes.  And  for us to explore with the Regional District, and with the province, how that could be implemented for Cortes.” 

“I even heard from people who have said, ‘I have a house here that is empty much of the time and I’m prepared to pay that tax’ (rather than rent it out).”  

“I worked a lot in Vancouver on implementing an empty homes tax. It was the first one in Canada. It proved to be pretty effective to  raise money and also to get more  houses back on the market for rental. I’ve definitely seen it used as an effective strategy. There was very strong support  in the survey for that idea.”  

CC: Do you have any metrics for how effective it was in Vancouver? 

Sadhu Johnston:  “I’m a couple of years out of date, but we raised $30 million to $40 million dollars a year. It would be  a fraction of that for Cortes, but in Vancouver all of  the revenue from the tax was put back into affordable housing. Even if we raise a fraction of that on Cortes to go into the creation of programs, or actual construction of housing, could be impactful.” 

CC: Did it result in a significant number of new housing units?  

Sadhu Johnston: “Yes, it resulted in many of those units that would have otherwise been empty being put back on the market. I don’t have the number in front of me, but over the first few years as the program was implemented and the amount of tax went up,  more and more of those units were rented out.” 

Aquifers

Sadhu Johnston: “We heard a lot of interest and concern about water and the health of the aquifers. That came out really loud and clear, as did the need for low carbon development.” 

“Since that forum, I’ve had a chance to talk to people working on the other islands about the ways that they’re addressing some of the water challenges.”

“When you go to some of the other islands, there’s a lot more  people that are capturing rainwater and using it for irrigation and other things.  In some cases those communities haven’t been proactive. They’ve almost waited until it’s too late.” 

“So we’re applying for a grant right now to actually do an aquifer health assessment and look at where on the island the aquifers might be at risk and what we can be doing to recharge them. There are ways that you can recharge aquifers, which is good for the aquifer, but it also reduces the surface runoff that might be flooding and flowing into the lake or other places. I think there’s a lot of opportunities to do that and more opportunities to really look to see how we can do composting toilets and other solutions that don’t require as much water.”

Short Term Rentals

Mark Vonesch: “I think the big takeaway is that there’s not one solution for housing on Cortes. I’ve talked about this before, but it really sort of showed that the housing solutions on Cortes need to be multifaceted. We need to look at housing from multiple angles.”

“One of the things that came out of the report is worker housing. Working with the Gorge, Hollyhock, the larger employers on the island to create some movement on getting worker housing built. There’s government grants to move this forward. Let’s make some movement on that.” 

“We know that short term rentals have had an impact on long term rental availability on the island.  The housing survey and the forum showed that there’s strong support for Cortes to opt into the provincial legislation that says you can only have an Airbnb if it’s your primary residence. This is something that’s direction for me, as the Regional Director for Cortes, to move forward on at the SRD board level.”

“A lot of people who came to the forum were homeowners and people who ran Airbnbs,  and we know that Airbnbs are an important part of our economy. I think people on Cortes have a strong sentiment that  if you live in Victoria or you live in Alberta and  you buy property on Cortes, you can’t just turn it into a business for a short term rental.”

“It takes away from potential long term rentals on Cortes and it’s something that Cortes seems willing to stand up for  and willing to put some pressure there so that only short term rentals can be done  on the primary residence that you live in. It was like 70 percent support in the community for this. This is an easy mandate for myself to move forward on.” 

Working with EASC & SRD

Mark Vonesch: “The interesting timing of this report and the forum is that the SRD is going through a zoning bylaw review process on Cortes. So this is an opportunity for us to really make some positive shifts in our zoning bylaws that are going to allow for the housing that we need and that is going to create the density and do development in the way that Cortes wants. Are  there ways for us to create a tiny home park or a place where people can lease pads and  have access to utilities and bring their own tiny house onto it?”

“Are there ways that we can take advantage of all the great builders on Cortes and people who are already building tiny homes and develop those businesses and connect those with landowners or people that want to get tiny homes.”  

“Land use planning, that’s a big opportunity for us now. There’s a meeting on March 6th where people can have more input and  if people have direct comments, they  can email planning@srd.ca.  All that input is being collected by the staff and they’re going to be coming back with some draft bylaws in the next few months that we’ll be able to review as a community and make comments on.”

“The great thing right now is that the atmosphere at the Electoral Area Services Committee (EASC), which controls land use planning in Cortes,  is in a really great place. There’s a lot of cooperation there and  I’m really confident  that EASC is going to really cooperate with  what  Cortes Islanders want.  That’s an exciting opportunity for us and hasn’t been there in the last  number of terms. There’s been a lot more conflict there and difficulty to get things done.”

Doing it ‘smart’

Mark Vonesch: “People want development, people want density, but they want it ‘done smart.’ They want us to do it in eco-conscious ways, they want us to think about land trust models that are making sure that ecosystems are protected and that we’re really making smart use of the land that we have rather than just following sort of traditional models.”

“We have a really strong input from the community. We had 125 people show up to the forum. We had 265 people fill out the survey. We have a really strong roadmap and vision to move forward and get things done. We’re in a place to ‘hit the road running.’” 

“The big picture here is we are in a position where if we don’t take action now, we’re going to be like Hornby Island in 20 years, that is more and more a place for the wealthy and retired.”

“We know that what makes Cortes awesome is the vibrancy of our community and the diversity of our community. In order for us to maintain that, in order for this Cortes to be a place where families can thrive, where young people can thrive, where the businesses that we have here can thrive, we need housing. I’m really excited to play a role in it. I’m really excited to be working with the Cortes Housing Society, and for all the people on Cortes that are excited on being a part of making change happen.”

Next Steps

CC: At the beginning of the interview, you mentioned next steps. What are the next steps you’re embarking upon?  

Sadhu Johnston: “Yes, there’s a number of next steps outlined in the report, things that we want to explore based on what we heard at the forum.”  

“As the Executive Director of a housing society and being relatively new in that role, I’m looking to establish a five-year-housing plan  that will take some of this input and outline a number of the measures that we want to undertake.” 

“So, continuing to develop Rainbow Ridge is a priority and really needing the B. C. housing funding for that. But there’s over 45 acres of other land, and there were many ideas at the forum that were raised about people’s interest in  finding land that they could build their own housing on.  That seems a  significant opportunity in the shorter term for Rainbow Ridge as well. So I really want to look into that. There’s a lot of people with a  ‘DIY can-do’ attitude who either have a tiny home, or want to build a cabin and just need some land to do it.” 

“What came up a number of times in the forum were cooperative collective housing types of situations  where people, as long as they know they can get a long term lease for the land, might be able to afford to build a home if they don’t have to pay $500,000 for a lot.”

“So, I’m really interested to look at how we can utilize some of the land at Rainbow Ridge to support people to gain access to a lot and make it a smaller lot. You don’t need a 5 acre lot. You don’t even need a 2 acre lot. What does a quarter acre look like if we can get people longer term leases on quarter acre lots and create walkable communities that are clustered with wildlife corridors and shared resources.” 

“I’m really interested to get away from that kind of standard model of subdivision and really look at cooperative living more.” 

“Having read many of the comments in the report, I have a greater sense of urgency and am really looking at what we can do this year to start providing more housing opportunities for people.” 

“This is just the start. This report is really just stating what we heard, and that’s why we titled it ‘what we heard report.’ It was really just that, in many cases verbatim data and the discussions that people had.”

“Because we had 16 breakout groups, both in person and online, I really see this as the 1st opportunity for engagement and consultation. As we develop a  5-year-housing plan for the island, we really want to get more feedback from people. We need to learn from other places (like the Gulf Islands, Orcas Island etc) where they are doing more collective housing, creating communities where people are taking care of each other and looking out for each other’s kids. I think there’s a real opportunity to learn from other places. So we’re going to be working with Folk U throughout the spring, bringing in speakers from other communities at the forum.”

Top image credit: Mark Vonesch and Sadhu Johnston setting the computer up for the Housing Forum – Photo by Suzanne Fletcher

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