Affordable housing has been an issue on these islands for a very long time now. In the 70’s and early 80’s, as land was so cheap, people could manage to create their own housing. In my case, we bought 10 acres on Denman for $27,500 by putting the down payment ($500) on our Visa card. We paid $600 for 2 power poles to bring in hydro, dug a well, constructed an outhouse, and lived for 8 months in a 120 “square” foot dome/Eco-Shelter we constructed, while we built our house. To my great relief, we first built a small laundry room, so we had a hot shower, washing machine and freezer hooked up. We were set! The summer of ‘79 was one of the most glorious ever, I was happily pregnant, and we spent quite a bit of time floating around Chickadee Lake rather than face the daunting task of building a home. Graeme & Edi Johnston were our saviours. They arrived on site one fine day, insisting that TODAY we were all gonna lay out the cement blocks which would form the foundation of our house. How could we resist? By the very late fall of that year, we moved into a place that more resembled a wooden frame with a roof than a house. Plastic windows, plastic-covered insulation on our walls, a chimney under construction, and a brand new (thankfully mellow) baby to boot. Looking back, it was sheer madness. But a divine kind of madness. People all around us were doing the same thing. No money, no expertise, but opportunity galore! Work bees, barter and volunteerism were integral to building community.
Then interest rates shot up, prices rose, and that immense freedom became more elusive. There are countless examples of people who’ve not been able to remain on Denman and Hornby, despite having employment here, because of lack of adequate housing.
And we have many who have given endless hours working on housing, slogging through bureaucratic hurdles, fundraising, strategizing, lobbying, designing and applying for assistance. Our tiny populations have shown they care while government housing policies, environmental protections, process requirements, land use planning – all have become more complicated and burdensome. Many of these same people who focused on affordable housing 30 years ago are still doing this work.
We now have the absurd situation where over 65% of Hornby Island’s houses are not occupied year-round. Most off-islanders who have 2nd homes on Hornby do not rent them. Rentals became difficult to find, and could be sub-standard.
Denman and Hornby tried a bold experiment in the early 2,000’s. They formed a joint housing association – ISLA – Islanders Secure Land Association. They took guidance from the islands just across the border – particularly Lopez, Orca & San Juan Island. ISLA brought folks to Hornby to give workshops on their experience. A striking difference was immediately evident in their financing – donations to their community land/housing projects were tax deductible. Not so in Canada where home ownership was involved, and the initial housing ventures always involved some level of home ownership. Other advantages of our US neighbours involved the close proximity of major population centres such as Seattle-Tacoma. They had a much larger pool of
financial and human resources to draw upon. They had state and county financial assistance as well as a strong tradition of philanthropy.
ISLA continued to struggle to find models and ways to address the lack of affordable housing on both islands, and eventually realized that each island had particular characteristics and differing needs which made it impractical to continue to work jointly.
So, back to the drawing board to create a separate entity for each island. Denman formed its own society and Hornby kept the name ISLA. Its intention to build both ownership and rental housing on its 18 acres of donated land at Beulah Creek rendered it ineligible for charitable status. This severely limited ISLA’s ability to raise funds. There were some fabulous fundraisers, and many served by sitting on the Board. Time passed and ISLA got stalled.
Hornby had earlier taken the plunge with Elder Housing, which was almost entirely self-funded, creating “The Village” – 11 rental units on a 5 acre parcel in close proximity to the 4 Corners.
Initiated by a small group of Hornby elders, it got started as a design-build project with UBC School of Architecture. Under the guidance of designer Michael McNamara (Blue Sky Design) and red seal carpenter Kathy Rieder, students designed the small dwellings and then, each summer, had a 6 week immersive learning experience building them. That was in the 90’s. It was an entirely bootstrap organization built with an incredible amount of volunteer effort, which continues to this day.
ISLA meanwhile, recognizing the need for outside project assistance, began working with M’Akola Housing Society & BC Housing. On their advice, Elder Housing Society, with its charitable status, made the extremely gracious decision to merge with struggling ISLA. Joining together, they became HIHS – Hornby Island Housing Society. The hands-on volunteer Board now manages 11 elder housing dwellings and is planning 2 more, as yet unbuilt. It also shepherds the Beulah Creek project.
The hard work by this always-all-volunteer association continues. Board members are aging. And gradually, gradually, the project has moved forward. Compromises were made as in all such difficult, creative endeavours, where dreams and reality sometimes collide.
And now at long last, construction is underway on an affordable, all-rental housing project at Beulah Creek, with 26 units, ranging from studios to 3 bedroom dwellings. Every single unit will have its own private outside entrance and every single unit will be a corner unit, affording it more privacy and more windows. Now ain’t that stylin? It takes as long as it takes.
Next week: Hornby Housing going forward
