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Conservatives, Greens Inconsistent on Affordable Housing Plans

If housing affordability is a big issue for you, the upcoming provincial election should be good as all three parties are talking a lot about it. I’ve been working on housing issues on Salt Spring with many others for a while now, and wanted to dig deeper behind the slogans to see which parties might make the most difference for us. Housing is a crisis in many communities across Canada, but the conditions making it so bad on Salt Spring are unique. Living in a conservation zone dominated by tourist and retirement economies, and with no local government able to build its own projects or drive change at the local level, means a lot of the big ticket funding, province wide policy changes, or other programs won’t apply here. But looking ahead to the election, let’s see what the parties have to offer. Conservatives seem to be making a play for working class voters, running on a platform of fixing how unaffordable life has gotten. The BC Conservative website is mostly big emoti…
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The Most Important Provincial Election of Our Lifetimes?

My family moved to Salt Spring 11 years ago, in part because of the incredible nature, but also because of the community, with its values of caring for the environment, for each other, and for social change. And while the main political persuasion in this chilled out island might be “it’s all good”, the dominant political party for the past decade has most certainly been the Green Party. Personally I've never really found a home with any of the parties. I’ve been a reluctant supporter of both the BC NDP and BC Greens at times, but I am feeling like it’s time for a change. There’s an incredibly important election just next month in BC, maybe the most important one of our lifetimes. Our current Green Party MLA Adam Olsen isn’t running. I think Adam’s been a great MLA. I really like him and appreciate all he’s tried to do for our community, and of course it's been rewarding to help advance reconciliation in a small way by having an Indigenous MLA. But at the end of …
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An island that fears all change can’t evolve

Did you know our local government is set to vote on allowing more small, eco-friendly housing options soon, but that even this cautious move that will only make a small dent in the housing crisis is enough to get some in the conservation crowd up in arms to block it? Here’s what’s going on. Very soon, the Islands Trust will vote on an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) bylaw, one of the key recommendations from its own Housing Action Task Force that Trust staff have been studying for over a year. This bylaw would create a path to legitimizing many existing cottages and suites and would even allow some new small homes to be built, albeit with all the same significant water and construction cost restrictions small homes have long faced. To be clear, while this is welcome, affordable housing advocates like me are disappointed with the Trust’s lack of ambition. We think it’s a first step not a last step, and that there is much more the Trust, and also the unengaged CRD and impenet…
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Small dwellings for working families not the eco-villain

Most people on this island have a lot of passion for protecting the environment, but unfortunately a small minority of conservationists continue to apply their time towards slowing or stopping progress from finally happening on our workforce housing crisis. Whether it’s in numerous Driftwood articles, presentations to Trust Council, postings online, articles penned for the Victoria Times Colonist, and even letters written to prominent conservation organizations who have taken a stand on people and housing issues, a few people on this island are working tirelessly to spread misinformation and fear about housing and the environment. Last week in the Driftwood, one of these people, Maxine Leichter, made a number of strong yet false statements. I hate to call people out by name, but when you put yourself out there in the community so prominently, you become a fair target for criticism (which also of course applies to me, I’ll look forward to the comments on this post!). …
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Don’t Let the Islands Trust Walk Away from Us

Right now the Islands Trust is reviewing a proposal to remove community from its mandate, as expressed in a new Policy Statement currently being debated. You can send a letter to tell the Trustees to not abdicate their role in protecting our unique culture and community. What does community mean to you? How does it help you live a good life? How does it help when you face challenges, or even a disaster? During the global disaster we’re currently living, the value of this special community has never been more clear to me. From everyone at my kid’s school to the never-ending bounty on the shelves of our grocery stores, our hard working hospital staff to the amazing network of alternative healers, those making a nice coffee or serving take-out lunch when I'm too busy to make another meal at home. Salt Spring seems to be surviving the pandemic pretty well, but because of the other major crisis predating the pandemic - housing - this foundation of our community is quick…
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On Salt Spring, Solutions for Environment Must Include People

A recent commentary might make Times Colonist readers think the beautiful and protected Gulf Islands are about to be destroyed by an unlikely villain — affordable housing advocates. “Development has put Gulf Islands in death spiral” wasn’t a very subtle headline. The writer is well-known on our idyllic but argumentative Salt Spring, and his favourite target of late is the affordable housing “lobby” that is set to ruin his little slice of paradise. I am one of those housing advocates, so allow me to provide a more complex picture of the pressures impacting both the island’s population and its ecology. Frants Attorp and I, like most Gulf Islanders, share great concern for the twin crises in biodiversity and climate change. Where we differ greatly is on the local issues making things worse, and who gets to benefit from the solutions proposed. Our volunteer advocacy group, Salt Spring Solutions, was formed three years ago when we saw multiple non-profit affordable housi…
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Rally Photos: Islands Trust Urged to “Show your plan” On Affordable Housing

A growing movement to encourage local government bodies to work harder on bold and systemic solutions to the housing crisis held a positive rally this morning at the Islands Trust offices. People from all walks of life - including parents and children, farmers, working people, business owners, health care and education workers, and retirees - who are impacted by the crisis attended to show that housing solutions need to be a top priority of our community’s leadership. Standing behind a large banner that said “Housing Action = Climate Action”, speakers highlighted that the way development is done on the island now is not sustainable. “With hundreds of large, high resource use new homes being built with virtually no requirements that they conserve energy, water, or forests, this is not meeting the Trust’s mandate to preserve and protect our environment or unique island culture. The intense pressures limiting the housing stock and raising the cost of rental and affordable ho…
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Make Less Than $80K? Maybe You Can't Live Here

Every month that goes by, fewer and fewer homes for regular people are available on Salt Spring. Rentals continue to leave the market due to the dual pressures of high real estate prices (encouraging homeowners to sell), and tourism / Air bnbs (encouraging homeowners to rent short term rather than long). A few affordable housing projects are happening, sort of, though the one that recently broke ground took 24 years of planning. That's one housing unit a year. As for homes for sale, as this former Islands Trust trustee recently wrote, there are literally zero properties listed for sale today on Salt Spring that anyone making less than $80,000 a year could afford. There are reportedly hundreds of people commuting on the ferries each day (one sailing wait anyone?) while more and more middle and working class people and families are looking at the unthinkable: packing up their lives, in some cases after decades of investing in this community, and moving elsewhere. But it'…
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Salt Spring Makes the Cover of the Vancouver Sun - But Not for a Good Reason

Salt Spring makes the cover of the Vancouver Sun - but not for a good reason The severity of Salt Spring's housing crisis is well known by the many hundreds who are directly affected, and by a few hundred more like me who know people who are. But as of yesterday, tens of thousands across the province won't just think about forests, beaches, and the Saturday market when they think about Salt Spring, but also about our severe housing crisis, and how a caring community like ours could have allowed it to get this bad. Vancouver Sun reporter Behdad Mahichi was on Salt Spring two weeks ago, and wandered across the table of our new group advocating for solutions to the housing problem. After chatting with some volunteers and reading some stories people have sent us, he pitched an article to his editor and was back on Salt Spring last week. The article, "Salt Spring Island's housing crisis pushing out longtime residents" graced the front page of the Tuesday, August 7 edition…
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Salt Spring Housing Crisis - Share Your Story

Salt Spring Island has a severe housing crisis that is making it very difficult for many members of our community to continue to live in this special place. Have you been homeless despite having the money to rent? Have you been forced to leave the island because you can't find a home? Is your business or farm struggling to keep great staff? Do you live in sub-standard housing at high costs and don't want to leave because there are no other options? The Salt Spring Housing Action Committee (SHAC) is a new network of concerned citizens, farmers, business owners, and affordable housing proponents working to find solutions to the crisis. Elected officials have said they want to hear stories from Salt Springers on how the affordability crisis is affecting them. By sharing your story and filling out this form we may send your story as you submitted it, to elected officials, or in public communications. If we want to use your story for public communications, the newspaper or web…
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