More than 180 new affordable rental homes are coming to Vancouver Island as part of a provincial initiative that will see a total of 600 such units built throughout B.C. to alleviate the ongoing housing crunch.
The units will be in 16 projects in B.C. They are either already under construction or work will start by April.
The homes are being built through the Building B.C.: Community Housing Fund in partnership with existing organizations, such as the Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society.
“These projects will mean new, affordable homes for a wide range of people, from seniors on fixed incomes to growing families and people with disabilities,” Housing Minister David Eby said in a Wednesday statement.
The Community Housing Fund backs development of mixed-income buildings. Within a project, half will be for households with annual incomes of up to $64,000, 30 per cent will be for households with annual incomes up to about $74,000, and 20 per cent will be for households with very low incomes, including tenants on income or disability assistance.
Affordable rental housing projects coming to the Island include:
- Nanaimo, 6010 Hammond Bay Rd.: 53 homes for independent seniors, people with disabilities and families, in partnership with Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society. Construction is expected to begin next month.
- Nanaimo: eight homes for Indigenous families in La’lum’utul, in partnership with Snuneymuxw First Nation. Construction is scheduled to start in February.
- Parksville, 371 Alberni Hwy.: 87 homes for seniors, people with disabilities and multi-generational families, in partnership with Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society. Construction should be underway in January.
- Tofino, District Lot 114: 35 homes for families, independent seniors and people with disabilities, in partnership with Catalyst Community Developments Society and Tofino Housing Corporation. Construction is to start in April.
Andrea Blakeman, chief executive of the Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society, said the Hammond Bay Road project will be the first of its kind in that part of the city.
“There’s a whole range of folks that are struggling to find anything that is safe and affordable and of decent quality,” she said, adding the situation is the same in Parksville.
A single person with a disability in B.C. receives $375 per month for shelter, she said. “How do you survive on that?”
The Parksville project will consist of eight to 10 townhouses for families, with the rest in a multi-family building with all units suited for anyone with a disability. It will fill a need for such housing, Blakeman said. “There is very, very little, almost nothing in Parksville.”
The society provides affordable housing in Nanaimo for people who work in Parksville but can’t find a place to rent, Blakeman said.
Jill Atkey, chief executive of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association, said the new homes announced Wednesday will make a difference for generations, “because homes in the community housing sector remain affordable forever.”
The Community Housing fund is part of B.C.’s 10-year, $7-billion housing plan to build more than 14,000 mixed-income rental homes for low- and moderate-income families and individuals. In the past two and a half years, more than 5,700 homes have been finished or are in the works.
Meanwhile, as chilly winter temperatures set in, people without homes are camping in and near communities throughout the Island. Some are in parks such as Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park, while others live in the woods outside communities including Nanaimo and Parksville.
Hundreds of people have been moved into supportive housing units on the Island, but an unknown number of others remain outdoors.
Between November 2018 and October of this year, 585 supportive housing units have opened on the Island, a B.C. Housing official said. Most are at capacity and include B.C. Housing-purchased hotels currently being operated as temporary supportive housing.
Next year, B.C. Housing expects 149 more units of supportive housing to open, he said, including two projects in Duncan and one in Campbell River.
Multiple other potential supportive housing projects are in the initial stages of planning.
