The Cowichan Housing Association wants to see a housing corporation established in the Cowichan Valley as soon as possible to help deal with the ongoing affordable-housing crisis in the region.
In a letter to the Cowichan Valley Regional District, Lake Cowichan's Bob Day, chair of the CHA, said the association knows the establishment of a housing corporation is essential to the Cowichan Valley as it will provide the CVRD and its member municipalities a leadership role in meeting their housing-unit needs by developing new affordable-housing projects.
“We are concerned the establishment of a housing corporation could become mired in bureaucratic delays which would be detrimental to the Cowichan Valley’s affordable-housing delivery process,” Day said.
“There is no time or need for a feasibility study as the CHA must begin the transition to the Cowichan Housing Corporation immediately so that we can commence building housing that our workforce, low-income individuals, and families can afford.”
In 2022, the CVRD engaged CitySpaces Consulting to prepare a Workforce Housing Strategy for the Cowichan Region, which was completed in May 2024 and approved by the board in late 2024.
CitySpaces’ Jada Basi told the City of Duncan’s council at a meeting in September, 2024 that, if local governments and other stakeholders agree, a feasibility study on setting up a housing corporation could be conducted in the short term so that a possible referendum on establishing one in the region could be held in 2026.
Basi suggested at the time that the CHA could be empowered to be a housing corporation.
Established in 2018, the CHA’s current mandate is mainly to increase affordable housing options and to reduce homelessness throughout the Cowichan region, but Basi said that transforming the CHA into a housing corporation would allow the organization to take a lead role in the development of housing on behalf of the region in partnership with other sectors.
Basi said setting up a housing corporation could potentially have a major influence in terms of addressing housing issues in the region.
“Something that has come up time and time again in our public engagement process is that whenever a solution [to the lack of housing] surfaced, there is a limited capacity to implement them,” she said.
“So establishing a housing corporation, or at least exploring this, would be a means to address that capacity.”
In his letter to the CVRD, Day said the Cowichan Valley needs to embrace a “housing-first” approach in the region and complete all requirements to transition the CHA into a housing corporation.
He said that without decisive action, the region will continue to see essential workers, including nurses, doctors, teachers and tradespeople, struggling to find housing.
“We will continue to see seniors, individuals on government assistance, and vulnerable community members without access to safe, stable, and affordable homes,” Day said.
“Currently, only three per cent of our housing is social housing. This must increase to at least 20 per cent if we are to build a sustainable, inclusive community where people can live and work. I kindly urge [the CVRD] to remove any barriers that exist as the CHA is ready to work with the CVRD in the transition of the association into the Cowichan Housing Corporation. The time for this transition is now as the future of the Cowichan region depends on it.”
However, a number of local developers have expressed opposition to setting up any type of organization that would have some control over the development of real estate in the Cowichan Valley, and said it should be left to private enterprise to meet the local housing demand.
The CVRD's board voted at its meeting on April 9 for the CHA to present a report on the issue to the district.
