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Your local housing advocates are still hard at work and have plenty of news to share.

Miller Road building: the Lookout Society and BIRCH are still aiming to have shovels in the ground by the end of 2025.

Miller Road building: we are working to update the building plans to accommodate new building code and accessibility requirements.

Miller Road building: we are also working on the first of two internal approval milestones for our grant funding, which should happen in April/May. 

Miller Road building: we have hired a general contractor to work alongside the design team as we ramp up for construction.

Miller Road building: there is a full team site meeting happening in March so that all the consultants, agencies, and societies can meet in person, go over the site together and “break bread.”

BIRCH: BIM council has instructed staff to draft a partnering agreement with BIRCH to form a Community Owned Housing Organization, and we are getting close to finishing the agreement and getting on with the exciting work.

Lot 1: our report on the development of this lot to BIM’s Mayor and Council is nearly wrapped up.

Thanks to all who came to chat with us at Bowfest this past weekend!

See below link to the FAQ page for the Miller Road Community Housing Project.

See you Aug 31, 2024 at the BICS Farmer’s Market!

BIRCH is applying to BC Housing to the BC Housing Community Housing Fund this fall. Support from the Bowen community has been critical to our progress so far and we’re hoping that you will make the time to help us again and send a letter of support by Oct 15th.

Click here to open our full backgrounder on the project and the ask.

Background
Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing (BIRCH) is the only non-profit housing society based on Bowen Island and is working to develop a more diverse range of housing options for our community.

We have land! Bowen Island Municipality has committed a 0.15 HA vacant parcel at 1033 Miller Road to build a community housing project with approximately 24 units of secure rental housing. With this land BIRCH will help build a more connected, resilient community by providing secure rental housing that will suit a variety of needs for Bowen Island community members, with a special focus on the Island’s most vulnerable: those with mobility challenges, low-income families, individuals, and seniors, and moderate-income families.

The need for affordable and non-market housing in our community is well-known, confirmed by a Housing Needs Assessment completed in 2020 and BIRCH’s own community housing surveys (2019, 2022). Additionally, the Bowen Island Community Foundation’s Vital Conversations most recent gathering identified affordable housing as a priority.

This project will provide urgently needed rental housing stock that is has a variety of size and rent levels. Providing secure tenure in rental housing is critical to maintaining a diverse community.

The current housing situation on Bowen Island (updated with 2021 Census data)

• 90% single family homes
• 85% Ownership
• 21% owner households spending 30% or more of its income on shelter costs
• 35% of rental tenant households spending 30% or more of its income on shelter costs
• MLS Home Price Index, September 2023, lists detached homes price at $1,210,700
• This requires an annual income of $253,491.10 (calculated with 10% down, with payments at 30% of household income)
• The median total income for households on Bowen is $111,000±

Funding
We are currently preparing to apply to the next round of BC Housing’s Community Housing Fund. If we are successful in our application, we anticipate approximately $3.8m capital contribution that will be used to fund the construction of the project. In addition, we will be seeking funding from CMHC’s National Co-Investment Fund as well as contributions from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Municipal Fund to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of the building.

Please send your letters of support to robyn@birchousing.org. We will collate them and submit them with the housing application. Your response by October 15th would be appreciated.  

If you’d like a template for your letter, please click here.

Thank you so very much for your support. We cannot do this without you.

David McCullum
Board Chair
Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing

We are grateful that Bowen Council was unanimous in its support of the BIRCH variance request and has referred it to its committees for comment. They also would like the public’s comments and are asking for your input before July 24th at 4pm.

Comments may be sent:

• by E-mail to mayorandcouncil@bimbc.ca;
• by dropping off in person;
• by mail to 981 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island, BC, V0N1G2; or
• by fax to 604-947-0193

We are asking the community to send letters of support. These variances are critical to the viability of our project and so we hope you’re able to make the time to show your support.

Thank you so very much for your support. We cannot do this without you.

David McCullum
Board Chair
Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing

Hello Bowen Island, we need your help in the form of a letter or email to Bowen Island Municipal Council by June 22nd!

Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing (BIRCH) is applying for a Development Variance Permit for our community rental housing project located on Miller Road (next to the new Health Centre). We are seeking two variances: the first is a reduction of parking spaces from the required 24 to 10.

The second variance is an increase to building height from the zoned maximum of 9.0m to 13.29m.

Only with both of these variances will we be able to maximize our use of the property and provide the ~25 units of secure rental housing that we have been working towards these last few years.

We are asking the community to send letters of support. These variances are critical to the viability of our project and so we hope you’re able to make the time to show your support.

Our application will be introduced at the June 26th Council meeting, with a vote coming later in the summer at the July 24th meeting.

Please send your letters:

• by E-mail to mayorandcouncil@bimbc.ca;
• by dropping off in person;
• by mail to 981 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island, BC, V0N1G2; or
• by fax to 604-947-0193

Thank you so very much for your support. We cannot do this without you.

David McCullum
Board Chair
Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing

Director Adam Lougheed and the brains of the sign erection project Ralph proudly show off BIRCH’s Development Variance Permit Application notice.

BIRCH is proud to have reached the next step in the project: asking the Municipal Council to approve our application to both increase the permitted height of our building and decrease the required number of parking spaces.

The height will allow us to maximize our use of the land and offer the most rental spaces possible, and the parking reduction does the same, while also recognizing that this will be a project that results in housing that is walkable to the school, shops, the ferry, and the core facilities of our community.

Please watch this space for our call for support as this decision comes before Council.

Summary

On October 15th our community goes to the polls to select its local government. BIRCH has questions for each candidate:

• What tangible commitment are you as a candidate willing to make to BIRCH and the Miller Road project, and uphold once elected?
  
• Will you support implementing the MRDT to provide revenue for building affordable housing for Bowen?

Background

Several years ago, we saw a gap in the kind of housing being developed on Bowen. With no non-profit organisation in a position to go after the newly available provincial and federal funding opportunities, Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing (BIRCH) Society was formed. We reached out to the municipality, and they agreed to partner with us in the development of new affordable housing in the community and provide land for the project.

BIRCH is primarily volunteer run, with our executive director working at below market compensation. With the approximate $30,000 of operational funds BIM has provided in the past 4 years, BIRCH has been able to secure almost $200,000 in project funding for the Miller Road affordable housing project (note –this funding cannot be used for BIRCH operations). We have secured our consultant team and completed schematic design of the building. We have also recently formed a partnership with a well-established Vancouver-based housing organisation that greatly improves our chances of securing government funding.

During the campaign for the 2018 Bowen Island municipal election, 100% of the candidates for Council and the Mayoralty publicly pledged their support to working to solve the housing crisis that the Island was facing. Each candidate endorsed the project that BIRCH had been pursuing in support of solving this problem. However, after the election, Council drastically reduced the land that they would make available to the BIRCH project. The resulting renegotiation resulted in a significant reduction in the land available to the project, drastically reducing the scope of BIRCH’s ability to build, and sending mixed messages to potential funding partners regarding the municipality’s support for the project.

In the 4 years since then, our relationship with BIM has felt less and less like a partnership. In 2019 we were granted a 3-year agreement to lease on a lot on Miller Road. Recently, a renewal of that agreement was reduced to 1 year – according to the CAO this reduction was in order to “hold (BIRCH’s) feet to the fire” and ensure that the land remain available for “any higher purpose.” These types of statements have made us at BIRCH feel that we are not seen as valuable partners, working together with the municipality to build housing for the community – but rather as an outside organisation that needs to continually prove its value.

Additionally, operational funding has been very difficult to secure. Applications to BIM for multi-year funding were turned down, and it was only after 3 unsuccessful grant applications that council made a special resolution to provide operational funds. We repeatedly had to make our case for the need for operational funds to support our organisation – once again feeling we need to prove our worthiness as a partner. Continually having to justify our organisation and its role in developing housing on Bowen has taken its toll on our board and staff and our motivation.

Lastly, our advocacy for implementation of the MRDT has not been made a priority by the current council. This tax would provide revenue to the municipality that could be used towards affordable housing – such as operational funds for BIRCH or other housing organisations.

BIRCH does not purport to have the only answer to the housing crisis, nor is it the only organisation working towards housing solutions on Bowen Island. We are however, in a unique position to apply for upcoming government funding opportunities – with our years of professional experience, work completed to date towards the Miller Road project and our ongoing efforts at building relationships with funding partners.

With this upcoming election and a new mayor and many new councillors, we are hoping for a stronger relationship and true partnership with the municipality moving forward.

Summary

This past summer Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing (BIRCH) conducted our second community housing survey. Like our last survey in 2019, we asked the Bowen community about the current housing situation and for feedback on our proposed housing project. In this most recent survey we have also asked how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the housing situation on Bowen Island.

The survey results summarized in this post will help guide BIRCH as we progress towards the development of non-market affordable rental housing here on Bowen Island. We would like to thank everyone who completed the survey.

Key Takeaways

Similar to the survey we conducted in May 2019, the majority of respondents were middle age, with two-thirds of all responses coming from those between the ages of 50 and 79. We received no survey responses from those under 20, six responses from those between 20-34 and only 3 responses from those 80 years old and above. It is important to note that while these groups may be under represented in the findings summarized below they remain important members of the Bowen community, with unique housing concerns that must be considered.

• Respondents from all household income levels expressed concern about housing affordability and availability on Bowen Island.
• Almost all respondents (97%) indicated that their concerns about housing affordability and availability have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• While the majority of respondents indicated that their current housing is suitable in the near-term, many had significant longer-term concerns about their ability to age in place safely.
• Consistent with the 2019 survey results, below-market rental remains the highest priority housing tenure type, with almost half of all respondents (47%) identifying it as their top priority.
• There is a significant interest in exploring more unconventional housing types such as mobile and manufactured homes, as well as “tiny homes”, located on either leasehold pads or non-permanent foundations.

BIRCH is very excited to be moving forward with the next step in the feasibility stage of our project – an updated housing survey!

Take the survey now! www.birchousing.org/survey

BIRCH welcomes all Bowen Island community members to complete this survey to identify housing issues and priorities on Bowen Island. The results of the survey will help to inform BIRCH’s proposed non-profit rental project on Lot 3 of the Community Lands, as well as general needs for future housing projects on Bowen Island. We thank you in advance for your time and effort to complete this survey – it should take less than 10 minutes.
All survey responses are confidential.

All survey responses are confidential.

The survey is open until Thursday, June 30th.

For more info please visit BIRCH’s website at: https://birchousing.org/