A housing-focused fundraiser at the Harbour House Hotel on Saturday served up not only a dessert buffet but a chance to learn more about the Housing NOW initiative underway on Salt Spring and the other Gulf Islands.
While proceeds from the Aug. 16 event were earmarked for the Copper Kettle Community Partnership, which seeks ways to support people who do not have secure accommodation, local Housing NOW homeshare program coordinator Adam Evanik was there with information about the program.
“There are a lot of houses sitting around the Gulf Islands that are either empty or it’s one person renting a big house or having a home with a lot of spare rooms,” he explained. “So we’re kind of facilitating this homeshare program where we come in and offer support if people want to rent out their rooms, for the short term or long term, as a homeshare opportunity.”
The program was initiated through the Southern Gulf Islands Community Resource Centre with support from other agency partners as a way to address the lack of workforce housing on Pender, Galiano, Mayne and Saturna islands. It was then expanded to include Salt Spring Island.
Evanik said one reason the islands are a good fit for the program is because so many residents are seniors who would like to age in place and maybe can’t afford home care or seniors housing. Providing home or garden maintenance or certain errands could be negotiated into the agreement between the home owner and the renter.
“So homesharing is a nice kind of alternative for them, where we could help them create a custom lease with a renter that could be, say, for reduced rent.”
The program also takes care of collecting rent and uses the Happipad online platform.
For more information, visit linktr.ee/sgihousing.
The next Harbour House tea and dessert buffet fundraiser is on Saturday, Aug. 30 from 2 to 4 p.m. Tickets cost $25.