Finding an affordable place to live in Victoria can be a crushing burden for low-income people and even some moderate-income families, so the Greater Victoria Housing Society has found a creative way to fill the demand.
Partnerships are meeting a need for rental housing in a city that will require 9,000 to 12,000 more rental units over the next 25 years.
The society teams up with local builders for what executive director Kaye Melliship calls 鈥渄eveloping with a social purpose.鈥� That means projects like one at 35 Gorge Rd. E., where the society is working with Knappett Projects Inc. to build five townhomes whose sale at market rates will finance 68 rental units.
The builder realizes a modest profit, and affordable rental units are added to the society鈥檚 portfolio.
The society has been providing social housing since 1956, building to its current stock of 14 buildings with 739 units. It鈥檚 aimed at low-income seniors, low-income adults with disabilities, low-income families, and moderate-income singles and families. Tenants pay anywhere from one-third of their income to full market rate if they can afford it.
The need has become more severe in recent years when the condo boom saw many rental buildings converted to condominiums, and construction of new rental units slowed to a trickle. When EY Properties began work on a 104-unit building at Burnside Road West and Tillicum Road last year, it was believed to be the first purpose-built rental project in Saanich in 25 years.
Despite the lack of building, the rental vacancy rate in Greater Victoria was 2.7 per cent last year, putting pressure on people with limited incomes who are looking for a place to live. The society meets some of the need by buying buildings, but that doesn鈥檛 add to the available stock. New construction is needed.
John Knappett, president of Knappett Projects Inc., says the partnership with the society pays off for both. His firm works with an established client that has secure funding. The society benefits from his company鈥檚 experience in getting approvals and jumping the hurdles of large projects.
Knappett says the returns are low, but so are the risks. And this is a good time to build, with low construction costs and interest rates, the society says.
The society鈥檚 longevity is proof of its success, but it faces challenges. Some of its buildings are aging and need to be upgraded. More of its tenants are elderly, frail or disabled. Government funding is limited. Fundraising is harder as more agencies look to private donors for support.
Effective though it is, the society has a low profile, and too few people know about the good work it does or its need for donors. One of its major fundraisers is coming up June 2 to 9, the sa国际传媒/Island Savings Open golf tournament, a Canadian PGA tour event. All the proceeds from ticket sales to the event at Uplands Golf Course go to the housing society.
The society, unlike many not-for-profit organizations, is not content to rely on donations and grants. It is committed to being entrepreneurial.
Thanks to that dedication and spirit of innovation, more than 1,000 people in Greater Victoria are able to afford a home.
