Update on Affordable Housing at Beulah Creek Village
In November 2018, the BC government awarded Hornby Island Housing Society 2.6 million dollars towards the construction of 26 units of moderate to low‐income rental homes for workers, families, and seniors at 5040 Central Road. The Society’s proposal was given a Class A rating by the province’s housing authority, BC Housing – the highest score possible. We felt that we were well on our way.
That was nineteen long months ago. Since then, the Society has slowly, slowly been making progress with Beulah Creek Village, confronting numerous hurdles along the way. BC Housing has stringent demands in many directions, not the least for energy efficiency, sustainability, and affordability. All of these requirements must be met for our designs to be approved.
Our team of architects and engineers, Studio 531 and Herold Engineering, drew up preliminary schematic plans for the project, and these were sent to BC Housing for their assessment last January. That review has now been successfully completed. We anticipate receiving the next installment of funding shortly which will enable us to get back to work with the team to develop a detailed design that we can bring to the community for feedback. We are hopeful that plans will be ready to present by later this summer.
Step by step! With good input from the Hornby community, applications for the development permits from Islands Trust can be submitted, and then more reviews with BC Housing will follow. If we can reach “Final Project Approval” while the province still has funding available for affordable housing, construction will begin. Stay tuned and optimistic!
HIHS Letter to Denman Island Local Trust Committee in Support of Rezoning for Denman Green Affordable Housing
Dear Denman Island Local Trust Committee,
This letter is intended to offer support for the rezoning application of the Denman Green affordable housing project which we understand is to be discussed at the upcoming LTC meeting on July 7, 2020.
As you know, HIHS has been providing safe, stable, affordable rental housing for elders on Hornby Island since the mid 1990’s. As well, HIHS is now in the process of developing a 26 unit community housing village in conjunction with BC Housing, and M’Akola Development Services.
For the latter rental housing project HIHS has received preliminary project development funding from BC Housing and is now in the process of completing preliminary architectural designs, civil and environmental designs, undertaking development permit applications, and completing our rezoning.
In 2016 the Islands Trust Council, recognizing the potential long term destructive effects of the housing crisis, organized a Housing Forum comprised of Trust Council members, Local Trustees, planning staff, and local groups working toward solutions. Even the bylaw enforcement officer was in attendance.
During this important forum, through presentations from all sides, a number of conclusions were reached:
There is a chronic shortage of stable, healthy, affordable housing for low and moderate income families and individuals, and that this shortage threatens the sustainability of island communities.
When island communities falter and become unsustainable, the natural environment is threatened as well.
It was recognized that virtually any form of affordable housing initiative necessarily involves some degree of densification. And when carefully done, densification can be beautiful, and both environmentally and socially sustainable.
It was recognized that through its mandate, the Islands Trust is called upon to preserve and protect both the natural environment and the unique communities of the islands.
It was recognized that the Islands Trust is in a position to, and in fact has a duty to act as facilitator in creating solutions to the chronic housing shortage on the islands.
Our experience developing affordable housing on Hornby Island confirms the conclusions of the Housing Forum. Carefully managed densification is a necessary component of any financially viable and effective housing solution, and can allow us to sustain both the social fabric of our community and the natural environment of our island.
A lack of affordable housing leads to the creation and tolerance of unpermitted and illegal dwellings. These can be both unsafe and unsightly. We suggest that, by allowing for this proposed pocket of density, Denman can have a source of safe, legal, affordable housing for some of its residents. This housing development would be required to be ecologically appropriate and to adhere to environmental standards. Without alternatives, illegal dwellings will continue on, promoting a general disregard for land use regulations and eroding confidence in the Islands Trust’s ability to proactively plan for the community’s future.
To this end Hornby Island Housing Society respectfully requests that the Denman Island Local Trust Committee instruct planning staff to expedite the rezoning application for Denman Island Green.
The Beulah Creek Village application for funding to BC Housing has been SUCCESSFUL!!
On Monday November 12, the Hornby Island Housing Society received word from BC Housing that our project to build rental housing units at Beulah Creek had been approved. Our funding was publicly announced the next day as part of a larger announcement of $492 million in funding for 4,900 units of housing in 42 communities across BC. We can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled and excited we are!!
Why were we successful?
When we pull back and look at the big picture, you can see how much our community had already accomplished on our own. Bernhard and Christa Weiss made it possible for 18 ½ acres of their lovely, well located land to be allocated for affordable housing. They worked hard along with our local Island Trustees and ISLA board members to make this happen. Hats off to Bernhard and Christa! Our community did lots of fund raising as there was much to do. Bernhard had already put in a well, but research needed to be done on many subjects, the land zoned for community housing, riparian areas identified, septic fields defined, roads laid out, and the Village site cleared! Our site was now “shovel ready”. Thanks goes out to the hard work and diligence of ISLA and its past board members and HICEEC which was a strong community partner and advocate, and for the generous support from the Hornby Island Community Fund, CMHC and the CVRD, plus many, many volunteers and broad community support. But there were still hurdles to jump. The infrastructure costs such as power, roads, septic and water systems were going to be huge. Models of owner financed homes, owner plus rental, strata title, and other possibilities were explored. No home-ownership model was found that would be both affordable and still pay for the infrastructure.
In 2017, representatives from BC Housing had a chance to tour the Beulah Creek Village site and they were impressed. The ISLA board was encouraged to prepare a proposal for funding from BC Housing for the development of rental housing. BC Housing only directly funds rental housing, but they have the deep pockets that could help us get past the daunting infrastructure costs. ISLA decided to partner with M’akola Development Services who have wide experience advising on successful rural community housing development. Both M’akola and BC Housing encouraged ISLA and Elder Housing to join forces so that we would have an even stronger team with experience in both creating and maintaining affordable housing. This, too, we accomplished, and in record time. Our application to BC Housing went in under the name of the brand new Hornby Island Housing Society!
What’s next?
We will be working closely with BC Housing and M’akola in the coming weeks to prepare a final agreement and financial plan for funding Beulah Creek Village. Then construction can begin. At the same time, we will be working on developing policies, an application process, and draft rental agreements for our potential tenants. As these details are finalized, we will release this information, along with the number and size of units, rental rates, and a construction and move-in timeline.
I want to live at Beulah Creek!
We are not yet ready to receive applications for housing at Beulah Creek Village. However, if you have email and would like to have news and updates as soon as they are available, please let us know. We will add you to our potential residents contact list. If you are seriously considering applying to live at Beulah Creek, one concrete first step you can take towards getting ready is to file your taxes so you are up to date. Our partnership with BC Housing will mean that filing your taxes can be a necessary step for you to take in the application process. To add your name to the contact list or to find help with completing your taxes please contact Meredith McEvoy at meredith.mcevoy@gmail.com.
Thank you for all your support and we look forward to providing further updates on the progress of the Beulah Creek Village housing development!
“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.
We hope that you have heard by now that Elder Housing and ISLA are seriously considering joining together as one society. We are writing to encourage you to come out to the upcoming information meeting where members of the Elder Housing and ISLA boards of directors will discuss the steps that would be involved in joining our two societies, and answer questions on the risks and benefits involved. We will also have a chance to discuss the provincial grant that this one society would be seeking for the Beulah Creek property.
The information meeting will be held at 3:00 pm Sunday, June 24th at New Horizons.
This is a big step for Elder Housing, and we would like to hear your input. Following this meeting, the boards of directors of ISLA and Elder Housing will decide whether to call Special General Meetings for their respective memberships, so that the members can vote on the motions required to join our societies. We are hoping that you will be able to come on Sunday, June 24, to take part in this important discussion.
In case you have not already seen it, we are attaching the information sheet that was distributed to the Hornby Island community in May.
Sincerely,
JoAnn Harrison
President of the Hornby Island Elder Housing Society
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BC Housing recently announced provincial funding for $1.9 billion for
affordable rental housing to be rolled out over 10 years. The first round for
this highly competitive funding concludes in September, 2018.
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ISLA has an application soon to be submitted to BC Housing for rental units at
Beulah Creek.
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This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a project of this scale happen
on Hornby Island. ISLA explored a host of development options; among the models
considered, partnering with BC Housing to create rental homes emerged as the
most financially feasible for the society while remaining affordable for
residents.
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The BC Housing Director of Regional Development met with board members of both
ISLA and Hornby Elder Housing (EH) on the island in August of last year. He was
thoroughly impressed with the work of our two societies and is a strong and
influential advocate for adding to Hornby’s stock of rental housing through the
Beulah Creek project.
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BC Housing has strongly recommended that EH and ISLA join forces to form one housing
society. Their rationale is that dealing with more than one housing society in
a community with a population of only 1000 is redundant and inefficient. In the
eyes of BC Housing, the formation of one society for Hornby would considerably
strengthen ISLA’s application for funding. As well, EH has a long history of
successfully managing rental housing – a skill that BC Housing requires in an
applicant. In the fiercely competitive application process for government money
every effort to submit the strongest proposal has to be considered.
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As a result, EH and ISLA are in the process of exploring the formation of one housing
society for Hornby. We are examining the potential for coming together from all
angles – exploring the pros and cons while doing our legal, financial and
ethical due diligence. Our two boards
are in agreement that the potential benefits of becoming one society are
promising and that we should actively investigate that goal. We are committed to ensuring that life for the
residents of the Elder Housing Village would not be affected in any way. Both
boards, through their in-depth analysis of the risks and benefits, will ensure
this condition is met before making any determination regarding support for
this initiative.
The
society will have two distinct projects: The Elder Housing Village and The
Beulah Creek Village. Elder Housing will change the society name to The Hornby
Island Housing Society, to better reflect the broader resident population. The
two boards will join forces to manage the two distinct projects, serving elders
at Elder Housing Village and all ages at Beulah Creek.
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Following are additional benefits foreseen by forming one society:
Simplifying
the Hornby housing picture provides a more streamlined approach for provincial
and municipal funding requests while eliminating the competitive aspect of two
societies seeking government money.
Economies
of scale. Built into the budget for Beulah Creek are ongoing paid positions
supporting the project – maintenance worker, bookkeeper/accountant, operations manager.
Having these professional roles and resources available to both communities would
free the board to devote its time and energy to governance and policy making.
This would reduce the burden that comes with the many operational tasks
required of the present volunteer board and for future board members.
Next
Steps:
An
information meeting for members of the two societies is planned for 3:00pm
Sunday, June 24th at New Horizons. The meeting will be announced in
local papers.
Upon completion of due diligence, if both
boards conclude that the forming of one society best supports the housing needs
of Hornby residents, Special General Meetings of ISLA and Elder Housing will be
held to vote on motions in support of this collaboration.
