Salt Spring Island Community Services will spend a month collecting detailed information about local family composition, income and housing needs to inform the planning for their new affordable housing development on Salt Spring. The information is needed to fill the gap in available data from other official sources since the long form census was discontinued and there has been no other recent detailed studies done.

The organization has had previous involvement with various types of housing on Salt Spring Island and is now looking forward to addressing the needs of families.

The organization owns a five acre site on Bishop's Walk in Ganges that will eventually be developed with up to 24 units of affordable housing. The units may be rental or ownership, with several innovative models currently being explored including a community land trust approach and rent-to-own purchasing options.

“We are keenly interested in receiving input from families with young and school age children and are pleased to be working with School District 64 to reach families”, said Rob Grant, Executive Director of Salt Spring Community Services. “We will be sharing the information with them and with other local organizations working with families and housing in late March and then undertaking wider community consultation for the project later in the year.”

The survey is 100% anonymous and available online. Hardcopies are available at the Salt Spring Public Library, Rainbow Road Pool and Family Place. Surveys will also be distributed through local schools, preschools and daycare centres.