Group of 14 non-profits calls on municipalities to do more to create affordable housing
CTV
A group of 14 non-profit housing providers has joined forces to create the Vancouver Island Housing Leadership Network, with the goal of seeing more affordable housing built.
“We operate over 6,000 units,” said Carolina Ibarra, CEO of Pacifica Housing.
The network is calling on municipalities and candidates in the October municipal election to facilitate the building of much needed affordable housing on Vancouver Island.
The group's six "calls to action" are:
“We’re in a very unusual development environment right now where construction costs are quite high,” said Virginia Holden, executive director of the Greater Victoria Housing Society.
Currently, non-profits are facing construction costs of $500 to $600 per square foot.
These non-profits benefit from grants and loans from all levels of government in terms of grants and loans, but they say there are still a lot of factors that make building more units extremely difficult.
“We’re hopeful that it’s going to be well received,” said Ibarra of the VIHLN's call for action.
“I think that most candidates sincerely want to do good things for their communities.”
