“Working together to find ways to keep our families and residents safely and affordably housed.”
Hornby Island has an amazing history of making our dreams happen, from the Community Hall to the Co-op, the Elder Village, Room To Grow, the Pre-School, the Free Store, the new Health Clinic, and now our Community School rising from the ashes. All were, or are, community driven initiatives. The summer of 2018 saw the creation of the Hornby Island Housing Society, HIHS. The members of ISLA and Elder Housing voted to join their two societies into one in order to focus on affordable community housing for people of all ages. HIHS is the result of this merger. Both boards of directors devoted months of careful, detailed work into the process of joining forces. It was not a simple task. Most of this work has now been accomplished, and we have moved on to board development, as we all learn some new skills in our larger, combined board.
We all recognize that it is a challenge to provide permanent affordable housing on a small island where property values continue to rise and the demand for summer vacation rentals only seems to increase. To be well balanced, in fact to survive, a community must provide adequate housing for everyone. People who work here year-round, young families with children in our school, retirees with modest means, all are finding it very difficult to remain on Hornby in the face of this economic pressure. But our community needs them. To stay, they need somewhere secure, comfortable, and attractive to live. HIHS is working to help address this issue.
Our current project, started by ISLA and now under the HIHS banner, is being designed as rental homes in a village like setting with green spaces, gardens, paths and trails, and some shared facilities, a healthy place for children to play and grow, and for adults to have both privacy and a sense of community. The Elder Village started as a dream and with hard work and fundraising it became a reality. Similarly, we are working hard and gathering funds to make this new village a reality, and we’re closer than we’ve even been. This isn’t an impossible dream. Hold the vision! Together we can make it happen.
