Real Estate & Housing

Enhanced Rental Assistance Programs Support Families and Seniors

More people will now benefit from enhancements to the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) and the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) program, helping low-income families and seniors afford their rent. “With the rising cost of living, we’re enhancing supports through the RAP and SAFER programs to ensure more families and seniors can access essential financial help,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. “These changes will help people stay in their homes in the communities they love and allow us to support more people as they manage the challenges of rent and living expenses.” Starting April 1, 2025, and as part of Budget 2025, RAP and SAFER programs have expanded eligibility criteria that will benefit more than 30,000 households in B.C. Existing eligible recipients will also see an automatic increase in their average benefits, providing them with more financial assistance to contribute toward rent. These changes build on the improvements to SAFER a…

New Measures in Place Will Boost Home Construction

New actions are being implemented to help more people find affordable homes in the communities where they live and work. “Everyone should be able to afford a home in their chosen community, but high home costs and real estate speculators are making that a challenge,” said Brenda Bailey, Minister of Finance. “We are working to ensure there are more affordable homes available for people, whether they’re renting or buying, through measures like the B.C. home-flipping tax and property transfer tax exemptions.” Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the B.C. home-flipping tax will be in place to discourage investors from buying housing to turn a quick profit. People who sell their home within two years of buying will be subject to the tax, unless they qualify for an exemption, such as divorce, job loss or change in household membership. It is expected approximately 4,000 properties will be subject to the tax in 2025. All revenue from the tax will go directly into strengthening housing prog…

ASK Salt Spring Welcomes the Alliance to End Homelessness Team

October 18 Nine joined this ASK Salt Spring conversation with the Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region CEO Sylvia Ceacero and Michelle Vanchu-Orosco, Director of Research and Data Analysis. This organization was established in 2007 by the mayor of Victoria and other local leaders. Its mission is to arrive at functional-zero homelessness by 2030 as agreed with community through the 2025-2030 Community Plan. Functional-Zero is described as experiences of homelessness being rare, brief, and non-recurring which implies that there are sufficient wrap -arounds to ensure people entering homelessness will safely and rapidly transition out of homelessness to never return. Sylvia began our time together with a meaningful Territorial Acknowledgement noting that she had immigrated to Canada and that she had consistently been welcomed by First Nations individuals throughout her time here. With Spanish roots, as a child she had been taught about the Spanish impact upon …

CRD is developing a Rural Housing Program Pilot Project

The Capital Regional District (CRD) is designing a Rural Housing Program through the development of a Pilot Project that will take place on the Southern Gulf Islands (SGI) and Salt Spring Island (SSI) Electoral Areas (EAs). The Rural Housing Program will be initiated as Pilot Project on the SGI and SSI EAs to prototype various housing solutions that are better suited to the rural context and to enable CRD responsiveness to the housing crisis across the capital region. “The Rural Housing Program is a move to address the critical need for affordable homes across the region in rural areas and small communities. By launching the Pilot Project on the SGI and SSI, it enables us to acknowledge the hard work of islanders over many years and look at how we can better tailor housing solutions to what we see as a growing need for affordability measures beyond the CRD’s Urban Containment Boundary,” said Paul Brent, Electoral Area Director for the Southern Gulf Islands and Chair of t…

ASK Salt Spring Welcomes Max, Our HomeShare Coordinator

June 21 A small group gathered to welcome Max Baron-Veale, Salt Spring’s Housing NOW Coordinator and to learn about HomeSharing. After Max’s moving Territorial Acknowledgement, we each took a few moments to introduce ourselves, most adding the Indigenous-like acknowledgement of our parents and roots. Max then told us what “excited and delighted” him. On his mind was his imminent departure for his first ever jujitsu competition. Clearly a gentle soul, he was a bit nonplussed by the combative aspects of his newfound sport. Professionally, he is very excited about the potential of HomeSharing on Salt Spring, anxious to further explore its as one of many needed solutions to our housing crisis. And, yes, he almost forgot to tell us: He will become a father in August! Housing NOW (https://www.sgicommunityresources.ca/housing-now-home/) began as a project of the Southern Gulf Islands Resource Centre, initially largely-funded by their Economic Sustainability Commission. Expansion o…

Summary of Current Housing Initiatives on Salt Spring Island

Current Housing Properties and Projects Minutes of the LCC, the local community commission on SSI Up to 335 units could be developed on 10 properties already designated or zoned for affordable or market housing. This is not an exhaustive list. Most properties require development funding, and additional water and wastewater services and approvals. CRD has provided land (Drake Road), some Community Works Funds (federal ‘gas tax’) to help cover infrastructure costs for affordable housing servicing, and Growing Community Funds to increase the capacity of the Ganges sewer system. CRD Drake Road – 5 acres leased by Capital Regional Housing Corporation for 60 years to BC Housing which is funding 28 units of supported housing, to be completed 2025. Potential for 50-80 units of additional affordable housing. Dragonfly – On Drake Road, being rezoned for 30 units of affordable ownership employee housing. Working with CRD to establish required water utility. Seabreeze Inne – B…

Mortgage Brokers Looking to Work with Upcoming Budget Measures to Support Home Ownership in British Columbia

The Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association - British Columbia (CMBA-BC) is encouraged by measures announced in today’s Federal Budget that will support opportunities for home ownership in British Columbia, and across Canada. CMBA-BC is committed to working with both levels of government and financial regulators to support housing affordability and home ownership for more British Columbians. “We welcome last week’s initial announcement by Minister Freeland to take introductory measures to support first-time homebuyers and those seeking to enter the housing market”, said Marci Deane, CMBA-BC President. “While these are encouraging steps, we know that further policy changes will be needed in order to more broadly help British Columbians who feel priced out and ignored by policymakers.” On April 11th Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced a series of measures further clarified in today’s 2024 Federal Budget that aim to make home ownership more accessible for Canadians. T…

ASK Salt Spring Welcomes MLA Adam Olsen

April 5 Fifteen joined us for all or part of our time together as we welcomed MLA Adam Olsen and Constituency Advocate Jerram Gawley to this ASK Salt Spring gathering. Adam began by offering our Territorial Acknowledgement, initiating a conversation about housing that lasted for our entire time together. He began by introducing us to Bill 13 – Land Title and Property Law Amendment Act being debated in the Legislature. This bill proposes to remove discriminatory barriers concerning First Nations land ownership. Currently, First Nations in BC are unable to acquire, hold, and dispose of land in the name of the First Nation.They are required, instead, to set up an alternate arrangement, such as a corporation. While Adam believes that passage of this legislation may have limited impact, its importance is that it will remove one of many discriminatory laws that were designed decades ago to intentionally create barriers for First Nations. These barriers have resulted in th…

Salt Spring Solutions launches community dialogue on housing solutions

With the release of the first public information video today, local non-profit Salt Springs Solutions launches its public engagement series, Solutions In Action!, aimed at creating positive dialogue on Salt Spring’s housing front. With a focus on respectful fact-based dialogue the organization plans to bring complex issues and solutions to the public in an entertaining and understandable way, to encourage development of community-led solutions that are equitable and environmentally-conscious. The series begins with a video on ADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units), which you can watch below. Salt Spring Solutions welcomes your questions and contributions to the conversation on its website, which has loads of information and hosts a community forum. Future videos in the series will be based on the organization’s integrated housing framework, called Homes For Islanders, available in full or in summary at the organization’s website. Salt Spring Solutions will also be putting free …

Salt Spring and Gulf Islands Real Estate Values Rise 5%

In the next few days, owners of more than 374,600 properties throughout Vancouver Island can expect to receive their 2020 assessment notices, which reflect market value as of July 1, 2019. "The market has stabilized in most areas of Vancouver Island this year," says Vancouver Island Assessor Tina Ireland. "In the south part of Vancouver Island, the majority of residential property values are moving -5% to +5%, while up island the value increases are a little higher. The commercial and industrial markets are generally showing increases over last year's assessments." BC Assessment collects, monitors and analyzes property data throughout the year. Overall, Vancouver Island's total assessments increased from about $246 billion in 2019 to $255 billion this year. A total of almost $4.14 billion of the region's updated assessments is from new construction, subdivisions and rezoning of properties. BC Assessment's Vancouver Island region includes all communities located within …

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…

Great to See All Candidates Prioritize Housing - Now to the Hard Work

Over the course of the past 6 months, volunteers from across the Island have been exploring solutions to our affordable housing crisis. Members of our group have held hundreds of meetings and conversations with community leaders, current elected officials, planners, non-profit housing proponents, engineers and water experts, builders and rental suite owners, and those most impacted by the current crisis including seniors, teachers and healthcare workers, young families, farmers and business owners. Through these discussions we have identified four high priority housing solutions that, if implemented, we believe would go a long way towards easing the crisis. There are of course many other ideas that will help however we believe these four will have the most significant impact and are the most viable given Salt Spring’s unique governance. At the root of any long term solution is the need to increase the supply of long-term rental housing and affordable homeownership for Sal…

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…

Proposed Speculation Tax Now Excludes Salt Spring and The Gulf Islands

To help make housing in overheated markets more affordable and available, the B.C. government is targeting property speculators, while making sure that over 99% of British Columbians will not pay the speculation tax. Carole James, Minister of Finance, made the announcement while releasing details of the new tax on speculators, which was announced in the February budget. “Our government wants to make sure people who live and work here are able to find and afford a good home in their community,” said James. “For too long, this housing crisis was allowed to escalate, and it has hurt working families, renters, students, seniors and others around the province. With this new tax, we’re targeting speculation in the housing market and freeing up vacant housing to be homes for British Columbians.” The tax details released today contain a series of thresholds, exemptions and geographic refinements that serve to focus their reach on people who own multiple homes left empty in ove…

Real Estate Report: What's The Market Like?

As a Realtor, when I meet someone on the street, in a restaurant, in the bar, wherever, it’s a toss up whether the first question is “ How are you?” or “How about this weather” or “ What’s the market like?" The two most common points of interest are the weather and the real estate market for many. I get asked so often I feel like a YouTube video being played. So here it is. 2016 was a record year for real estate sales on Salt Spring. It started out with a boom and never quit. Predictions were that 2017 would slow down. In the 1st quarter of 2016 there were (plus or minus), 78 new listings as compared to 51 sales. In 2017 for the 1st quarter there have been 54 new listings as compared to 49 sales. This is the continuing saga. Sales are down but in a large way because of the shortage of inventory. For the 1st quarter of 2016, the average time on market for the sold properties was 178 days (DOM). In the 1st quarter of 2017 that had dropped to 101 DOM. Of the 54 new listings in…

2016 Was a Record Year for Real Estate on Salt Spring Island

The total number of Real Estate sales in 2016 on Salt Spring Island was 364 sales - that is pretty well 1 sale each day! This is a record breaking number, the previous highest number of sales was in 2003 with 316 sales. The 17 year average is 239 sales annually. Between 2008 and 2013 inclusive the number of sales was below 200 each year. In the rest of the Province the records show similar high numbers. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a record 112,209 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2016, an increase of 9.5 per cent from the previous year. Total sales dollar volume was a record $77.6 billion, up 18.8 per cent from 2015. The average MLS® residential price in the province climbed 8.6 per cent to $691,144 on an annual basis in 2016. The total value of all properties sold on Salt Spring Island was over $200 million. What about the prices? The high sales volume exerted further upward p…

Former Vancouver Residents Making Home on the Island

What would you have done if your modest Vancouver bungalow could suddenly make you a millionaire? Take the cash and run? That’s exactly what a number of Vancouver homeowners started doing at the end of 2015. Feeling as though they won the lottery, these homeowners cashed out and got out of the mind-blowing―or mindboggling, depending on how you see it―Vancouver real estate market. But where did they go? There’s a good chance that you’ve met some of them here on Salt Spring Island. Many of those who cashed out sold to foreign buyers and moved to other locations on the BC coast and the Okanagan with the goal of buying down―that is, buying homes that sell for less than what their Vancouver home sold for. Salt Spring has an attractive infrastructure for former city folks, and when they come here to buy down, that means they’re purchasing homes under $750,000. These buyers are different than buyers who have previously bought on Salt Spring; they’re not from the United States…

Real Estate Report: What’s enough information?

It has always been my belief that you can never have too much information about a subject. On the other hand, there is a point where you have enough to make an informed move. This applies to Real Estate and is very relevant in todays fast market. Buying property is one of he biggest decisions you can make. Unless you are a billionaire, this will be a major portion of your net worth. I don’t know about you but I have in my lifetime lost pretty much everything a couple of times and I didn’t like it. I was younger and could pick myself up and start again. Now I’m not so young, What’s enough information? Of course you have to do your due diligence. You have to know where it fits in the marketplace and if it is reasonable value. If you like it and there are no obvious issues then you have to make a decision to make an offer. This is not a “ You bought it you got it, so sorry, end of story” situation. Your safety net is conditions or subjects as they are called. These are questi…

Real Estate Report: Don't Hold Your Breath

'The Times They Are A-changin' - Bob Dylan - I still get emails from people saying they expect prices to start going down. I hope they aren’t holding their breath. As a realtor, making an announcement that demand is high, supply of listings is low and that will generally equate to higher prices is a double edged sword. Buyers have been in wait-and-see mode for a long time. That is over. The other side of the blade is sellers who overreact and overprice their property can lead to stale listings rather than the bidding wars they want. Prices seem to be rising but if you want 2 years from now prices, wait 2 years. There have been announcements about prices in Victoria being up by 15% and people ask if that is the case on Salt Spring. We still have too small a statistical number to clearly define that but the gut feeling is yes, prices are up. How much is almost impossible to answer as you would have to have a number of identical properties sell last year and this year to make t…

Real Estate Views: In Deference to the Experts

I recently had a client that was about to put in an offer on a property and was feeling me out about what price they should put on the offer. This gets to be a very complex question depending on both the buyer and the seller. In my mind the main focus should be on facilitating a transaction. If there is no sale, neither the buyer nor the seller are happy. No one wins. The word “ wins” is very telling. It’s amazing how buyers go from a state of warm and fuzzy with visions of enjoying the property to gaming mode in the blink of an eye. When I say gaming mode, I mean they do a Jekyll and Hyde, Werewolf transformation. All of a sudden it is not about buying the property they want, it’s the competition, it’s the game, the ego. It’s the “ them or me” state of mind. The property becomes secondary. With any negotiation, there will be two starting points. The sellers price and the buyers price. The negotiations will hopefully settle out somewhere in between. This client quoted the …

Real Estate Report: Where do the buyers come from?

It has long been a standard question, “ Are the American buyers coming back?”. Just to put it in perspective, if we go back to the heady days in 2007 when there were 234 residential sales in that year as compared to 2014’s 183 sales, only 4.2% of the buyers were from the US. In that same year 11% of the buyers were from Alberta. 81% of the buyers were from BC of which 17% were from the lower mainland and 46% were from Salt Spring Island. In 2014 and continuing into 2015, the US buyers were only 1.5% of the market and Alberta only had 4.3%. Buyers from BC were still on top with 85% of the buyers of which 20% were from the lower mainland and 45% were from Salt Spring. John Cade, Pemberton Holmes Salt Spring Island