The province will fund the long-anticipated affordable co-op housing project at 3191 Sherman Rd. that will provide 92 new units.
The announcement was made at North Cowichan’s council meeting on Oct. 16 that Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon has given the green light for the project, which was first envisioned in 2016, to proceed.
The amount the province intends to fund the project has yet to be announced.
The plan is to have 34 three-bedroom family-oriented townhouse units and a 58-unit apartment building, which will include 17 three-bedroom; eight two-bedroom; nine one-bedroom and 24 studio units, with 19 suites accessible.
One floor of the project will be dedicated as second-stage housing in partnership with the Cowichan Women Against Violence Society to serve women fleeing domestic violence.
The project is led by the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC and the Community Land Trust, while North Cowichan donated 2.1 acres of land to the project in 2017, as well as agreeing to pay the development-cost charges for the project and funding some of the necessary background studies.
At the time, the Community Land Trust was expected to obtain funding to build and operate the project through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and BC Housing.
But BC Housing said in 2018 that further changes would be required to comply with funding parameters.
In a staff report in 2022, Rob Conway, North Cowichan director of planning and building, said the land trust has been working with BC Housing since that time to adjust the project to better comply with funding criteria.
A development permit for the project was issued in August, and it is currently undergoing a building-permit review, with a permit expected to be issued in late 2024 or early 2025.
Coun. Chris Istace said at the meeting on Oct. 16 that 92 new affordable and socially funded housing units coming soon to the community shows the importance of strategic plans and how they can transcend from council to council and gives a strong focal point that staff can keep working on that moves past current terms of council.
“It takes a long time to reach these projects,” he said. “It’s not about what we can vote on and accomplish and change tomorrow, it’s about what what we’re changing five, six, seven years from now.”
