By JENNY MCCLEAN
I attended the public portion of the Islands Trust Executive Committee meeting on Feb. 26 at the Fort Street location in Victoria.
The reason I attended was to put in my points about the need for a housing agreement and/or a covenant to give some security to future tenants of the proposed 18-unit housing complex at 101 Bittancourt Rd.
What I learned was that the decision to allow the rezoning from Commercial to Residential to go ahead without any housing agreement or First Nations consultation as usually required was made at the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee meeting on Salt Spring Island on Feb. 13. The posts on social media suggesting that Islands Trust red tape could hold back the project were false. The Islands Trust has unequivocally supported the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation’s rezoning from the beginning.
The presentations from the Feb. 26 Islands Trust Executive Committee meeting can be found in the records. The major presentation was by Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) chair Julian Clark. I made a presentation and there was a phone call from Maxine Leichter.
The housing has no controls that favour any future tenants such as any regular rights over eviction timelines, or rent controls beyond what is stipulated by provincial legislation. Although the yardstick for affordable rentals for Salt Spring is possibly unrealistic, a housing agreement of sorts could have been negotiated to ensure that lower wage hospital workers can afford the rent. However, there was none of that. The acceptance of the powers of the landlords was unequivocally endorsed by trustee Laura Patrick and was underlined by chair Peter Luckham and then agreed to by the other members of the Executive Committee from other islands.
The tick list provided by the Islands Trust was run through by Clark. One item was to ask if the increase in density for Salt Spring would be an issue. Julian answered this by saying that those already living on Salt Spring would use the housing, so there would be no increase in density. The run-through to show that some type of due diligence had been done was very loose. I advise anyone who thinks I am not on point with what was presented to go to the Islands Trust record of the meeting and listen to what was said.
The honest presentation was to ask for the use of housing as a temporary housing just like commercial hotel housing, except with the option for each unit to be a residential unit in the eyes of any bank lender to enable the building to be as useful as possible to the LMHF to support their bottom line. At least there was honesty around this as the purpose. Workers who can come and go and do jobs at the hospital will be welcome. Also, workers who do not need any rent control are also welcome.
Of course, that was the purpose from the beginning as it was previously described as a possible source of unallocated income for the LMHF. And for those who would like to see the financial strength of the LMHF continue as it assists the hospital’s work, there is no objection. I don’t object to that either.
However, to bend the words of the official community plan to support this unprotected type of housing is questionable. A lot of money has been used by the Islands Trust to redefine their purpose. They have moved along from a pure state of “preserve and protect” to being a supporter of housing. The reason for this change is that Salt Spring Island is in a dire state of lack of housing for workers and families. The main reason for lack of ability to have a full community that supports parents, kids, seniors who are low income and workers in Ganges is because the housing is so expensive! Wages are stagnant, yet housing continues to increase in price.
I fully believed in the sincerity of what was being done by the Islands Trust to change its mandate. The reason I was in support is because of the lack of affordable housing options here. However, I am very surprised to see the lack of protection for workers in terms of possible job loss leading to sudden housing loss as well. Workers are people with families and not just widgets who are brought to Salt Spring Island to serve the wealthy and then be kicked out of housing as soon as that purpose is complete.
There is a huge gap in understanding of each other here on Salt Spring Island. I realized that to speak about the disemboweling of the middle class by the incredible increase in real estate in my region is not understandable to many here. To have housing that can create affordable and secure housing for those who work in healthcare, even those who are doing jobs in the kitchen that pay possibly under the median income, is important. The former Seabreeze Inne was described to our community as being there to provide housing for those who are working in support roles at the hospital and care homes, not just those who are making the higher wages associated with healthcare. I heard a presentation made on Feb. 26 that took no account of this.
Why is the Islands Trust spending so much money to redefine their purpose if they also do not support the people in our community? To hear it stated that they are not bound to create affordable housing or worker housing leads to me wondering, then, is it to support just housing density but with no overall view of the need to have many different income earners welcome in our community? Why has so much gone into redefining the Islands Trust to support a housing mandate if those who need the housing are left behind?