By MAIRI WELMAN
Co-chair, Salt Spring Solutions
We were heartened to see last week’s column by CRD Local Community Commissioner Brian Webster calling for immediate action on housing on Salt Spring.
In 2022, Salt Spring Solutions reviewed all of the existing reports and papers that had been researched and written on housing for our island over the years, and synthesized them into a single document that was then peer reviewed by professionals in government, housing and policy development.
Homes for Islanders — an Integrated Housing Solutions Framework for Salt Spring Island was then published in April 2023 and has since been presented to many Salt Spring community groups, from the nature conservancies to the Chamber of Commerce, and to the CRD and the provincial government. We were pleasantly surprised at the positive reception our framework received from all the groups we talked to, and we do know that elected representatives and government staff at the Trust, LCC, CRD and Province have been reading the report and discussing it.
Our recommendations address the environmental, economic and social issues integral to housing solutions by:
• being achievable within the existing local, regional, and provincial regulatory context;
• supporting smaller-scale housing types that are known to have less adverse impacts on the natural environment than typical single-family development;
• supporting efficient use of land, water services and infrastructure;
• not requiring large-scale land clearing of existing forests or harm to sensitive ecosystems
• being financially viable to develop and operate;
• improving the availability and/or affordability of long-term housing options for a range of household types and incomes;
• being compatible with and/or enhancing island community characteristics, such as self-sufficiency, neighbourliness, and low-impact living;
• supporting increased uptake of transit and/or active transportation.
Our very first strategy recommends three actions for the CRD: create a regional plan for rural island housing, develop a housing strategy for Salt Spring and dedicate an entity or staff to ensure coordination between agencies.
So far the Southern Gulf Islands Electoral Area has led on development of the CRD’s Rural Housing Program, which is set to benefit Salt Spring as well. We count this as a success. The LCC also has the opportunity to show leadership, by resourcing coordination of housing policy and action across agencies, and resourcing the development of a much-needed housing strategy for Salt Spring.
We agree with commissioner Webster that the time has come to act, and that the most vital first step is informational sharing and coordination between agencies. We couldn’t agree more that it’s time to break down the silos and start working together.
If Driftwood readers are interested in learning more, our housing solutions framework, Homes for Islanders, can be found at saltspringsolutions.com/housing/.