Update: March 31
​Council settled (March 13) on a 10.53% general municipal tax hike based on all the good reasons listed below. This works out to $147.12 per year or $12.26 per month for the average assessed ($785k) property in Sooke. 
 
As the staff report states: “The focus of the budget is on continuing the current levels of service, transitioning to 24/7 policing, continued support of 24/7 fire rescue services, bylaw services, and implementation of the asset management plan. With the proposed changes Sooke remains one of the lowest tax rates on Vancouver Island and comparable-sized municipalities in the province.” The District’s annual Budget Open House is set for Wed. April 3, 2 to 7:30 PM. 

The District keeps refining its budget messaging. You'll see in the storyboards prepared for the open house that the latest number crunching reveals that our municipal taxes are, in fact, the lowest in BC on a per-capita basis among communities sized between 10k and 20k people. Interestingly, there has been little feedback (two letters) to what amounts to the biggest tax increase in the District's short (25 year) history. Good evidence that we, the taxpayers, are prepared to invest in this growing community's future. 

Starting Points 
District of Sooke: Let's Talk Budget 2024 
Website home page with links to all relevant materials, including: 

- Budget 2024: What We Heard citizen survey (1,000 persons surveyed in June-August, 2023 period)
- Budget Brief 2024 -  4-page explainer (Nov. 22, 2023) 

- Five-Year Financial Plan 2024-2028 (presented to the Committee of the Whole this afternoon, next step in meeting a May 15 provincial deadline to finalize this annually updated legislative requirement... today to be followed by an in-depth departmental service review (March 13, 7 PM); the presentation of a revised budget to Council; a Community Budget Open House; and then final adoption and the near-immediate start of the next year's budget cycle with a Budget 2025 public survey.) 

[IMO observation at the outset: Bravo to District staff led by Interim CAO/Director of Financial Services Raechel Gray, her deputy Ben Currie and Communications Coordinator Christina Moog for delivering a best-ever budget package --  comprehensive, colourful, chart-packed, reader-friendly, persuasive and rooted in best-practice community engagement. This is light years removed from the daunting spreadsheets blanketed in black numbers that I first began stumbling blindly through when i got interested in municipal life a decade ago. Bonus: Spreadsheets are back in this year's budget, with five years of Capital Plan spending starting on pg. 36.]

Pocketbook Top Note
- Initial proposed tax hike of 13.3% on our 2024 property tax bills to cover an increase of $1.45m in new District operational expenses. 
- This equates to $185.16 per year based on the average BC Assessment-rated Sooke home value of $782,905
- Note: As in years past, this is a first bullseye targeted increase. Council has and will again inevitably reduce this number (likely back into single digits if at all possible) while also recognizing the importance of continued investment in Sooke by homeowners (85%) and businesses who call for a functional, safe, connected community. Last year, we started at 9.34% and whittled it to 6.99%. 
- A +1% increase in taxes equates to $109k approx. in new revenue


Leading Rationales for the Increase
- + 7% ($755k) in Community Safety funding for Sooke Fire, Sooke RCMP and District Bylaw Services. [See my Budget 2023 Starter for the reasons why Sooke council voted last year to support 24/7 unionized service with the hiring (through 2027) of eight new Sooke Fire Service career officers and five more Sooke RCMP officers.] 
 
• + 2% ($218,154) to begin building an essential and so-far largely non-existent Asset Management reserve fund for use as needed over the next many decades. [See the Dec. 11 Council agenda  (pp. 49-182) for the council-endorsed Asset Management Plan and Policy. We approved 2-to-3% per year for this good community housekeeping necessity, just like communities across Canada that are struggling to deal with their respective infrastructure deficits.]
 
• + 3.7% (roughly) increase to account for inflationary, contractual, and wage rate increases. This figure aligns with the Greater Victoria Consumer Price Index rolling 12-month average as of December 2023. [BC Stats CPI Highlights - Jan. 2024]

Further Rationale: Budget 2024 Community Feedback 
The budget is based solidly in public feedback gathered from June 21 to Aug. 20 last year and crunched in Budget 2024: What We Heard. Its top citizen priorities are addressed to some necessarily partial but still significant degree in the budget: 
 
"- Traffic planning and management, including road maintenance and the ability to walk or bike safely around Sooke; 
- Emergency Response (police and fire rescue services); 
- Parks and greenspaces, including care for the environment; 
- Health and wellness services; and 
- Community Planning." 

Limited Wriggle Room
The draft  Five-Year Financial Plan 2024-2028 (pg. 10) cites discretionary (optional for council to approve or cut) and non-discretionary (in process, contracted and unavoidable) expenses in the operational budget. If all are approved, then these items account for the $1,452,155 in new expenses that would be covered by the 13.31% tax increase.  As this year's budget package clearly states, property taxes are primarily used to fund District staffing and benefits. 

Non-discretionary includes:
- RCMP contract (+$392k)
- CUPE and IAFF wage increases (+262k)
- New firefighters and support staff (+$363k)
- WorkSafe BC premium (+$199k) 
- Council annual CPI increase (+$6,519, which equates to a raise of $21,466.88 to $22,260.64 for councillors; $50,752.24 to $52,630.07 for Mayor ... This is fine enough, I've long accepted, for my and Carolyn's modestly comfortable lifestyle, yet future councils must necessarily draw fresh, engaged, committed councillors and this minimum-wage nonsense for what could/should be full-time work has to end eventually. Our delayed but forthcoming Strat Plan will call for another salary review, I'm sure.) 

Discretionary includes: 
- Asset Management reserve fund (+$218k - essential, common sense)
- Auxillary Bylaw Officer (+$42k - essential to assist the two-person bylaw team deal with multiple issues, including working with the homeless)
- CUPE contract CPI adjustment ($60k - essential for employee retention in a hugely competitive job market)
- Parks, facilities, fire and administration operation cost increases ($167k total - all valid and needed, I'm sure, as to be explained at the service review meeting) 


Major Capital Projects Cited in the Draft Plan
See pg. 20 for capital project funding sources. These are highlighted by $3.5m in successful grants + road, sewer and parks Development Cost Charges arising from new development (i.e., $5.16m this year) + the Community Building Fund (aka Gas Tax) + other reserves (Casino, Asset Replacement, Playing Field, Sooke Program of the Arts and Fire Equipment reserves.) 

1. Church/Thoup Roundabout and the Charters Road Corridor
2. Throup Road Connector design
3. Highway 14/Charters Intersection design
4. Phillips Road connector design
5. Wadams Transit Exchange design
6. Ella Road design
7. Whiffin Spit Master Plan 
8. Ravens Ridge Park enhancements
9. Little River (Demamiel Creek) Pedestrian Crossing
10. Playground equipment safety replacements

* Note: It is critical for Sooke Transportation Master Plan priority routes to be blueprinted out to shovel-ready status to meet criteria for provincial and federal grant opportunities.  

Future Big-Ticket Anticipated Expenses in the Five-Year Plan (grant and borrowing dependent) 
Operations - TMP implementation 
- Charter Corridor North (Throup to Gollege) - $2.2m (2025, already budgeted)
- Charter Corridor South (Gollege to Sooke Rd) - $2m (2025)
- Frances Gardens stormwater management - $1m (2025)
- Ella Road rebuild - $1.35m (2025)
- Brownsey Blvd. stormwater management - $500k (2026)
- Throup Road (Charters to Church roundabout) - $2.6m (2026)
- Throup Road connector (Phillips to Charters) - $18m (2027)
- Phillips Road Corridor (Sooke Rd. to north of SEAPARC) - $7m (2027) 
- Five Year Road Program - $500k annually 

Sewer 
- West Coast Road force main (Townsend to Atherley) - $1.5m (2025)
- Sewer extension to Kaltasin - $9.8m (2026)

Parks 
- Deamiel Creek Crossing Bridge - $990k (2025, already budgeted) 
- Municipal Hall interior/exterior upgrades - $800k (2026)
- Broom Hill playground replacement - $900k (2026)
- Pier and boardwalk upgrades - $150k (2026)
- Playground equipment safety replacements - $100k annually

Breakdown (2023) of our total tax bill 
District of Sooke – 44.1%
SD 62 – 28.1% 
CRD – 15.8%
BC Transit – 4.4%
Library – 3.4%
CRD Hospital District – 3.2%
BC Assessment – 1%

Increases from Other Sources 
* CRD: 3.9% increase in 2024 ($21.54) to cover regional, sub-regional and local (i.e., SEAPARC and Sooke Region Museum) services provided to the Sooke by our regional government. SEAPARC and regional parks are, by a considerable margin, the two biggest line items in the CRD budget. 

Tax hikes over the last decade total 34.38% ... nonetheless, Sooke at $1,594 in municipal residential property taxes (for the average assessed property) is second only to Lake Cowichan ($1,540) in having the lowest bills on Vancouver Island amongst communities south of Campbell River. The median tax among the 25 jurisdictions cited in the draft plan is $2,381 (i.e., what folks in Port Alberni, Colwood, Qualicum Beach approximately pay). Oak Bay tops the list at $5,063 per tweed-curtain household. Not that this alone justifies major local increases, of course. 

2023 - 6.99%
2022 ~ 6.09%
2021 ~ 3.31%
2020 ~ 0.00%
2019 ~ 7.18%
2018 ~ 2.79%
2017 ~ 5.58%
2016 ~ 0.85%
2015 ~ 0.00%
2014 ~ 0.02%
2013 ~ 1.59%
2012 ~ 0.00%

Other BC Tax Increases in 2024
This is the tax comparison list in order from the 2024 draft financial plan. Among these communities, Sooke ranks as the second lowest in terms of residential property tax. 

* Lake Cowichan (4% proposed)
* District of Sooke (13.3% proposed)
* District of Lantzville (0% final)
* North Saanich (no budget presented yet) 
* Comox 
* Duncan (7.54% proposed) 
* North Cowichan 
* Metchosin 
* Courtenay
* Ladysmith

 * Langford (15.6% proposed. Council has decided to “rip the band-aid off” as per this rationale from three of its councillors, which is common sense, practical and responsible to future taxpayers IMO.  It, in turn, generated this response by residents. Deep gratitude for not residing in a community this divided and politicized.) 

* Sidney
* Highlands
* View Royal
* Campbell River
* Port Alberni
* Colwood
* Qualicum Beach (7.7% proposed) 
* Central Saanich (7.76% proposed)  
* Nanaimo
* Esquimalt
* Tofino
* Saanich 
* Victoria
* Oak Bay 

Other property tax increases this year ... 
* Cowichan Valley Regional District (16.35% proposed) 
* Parksville (6.6% proposed) 
* City of Vancouver (7.75% final) 
* Osoyoos (24% current following 41% initial proposal) 
​
Archive of my earlier budget posts 
- Budget 2023 Starter
​- Budget 2022
- 2020/21
- CRD (2019)
- Budget 2019

Updates to follow in the weeks ahead, including insights into the tax hits being felt in other BC communities this year. 

April 23
Sooke is happily (IMO) not among the score of municipalities on the second "naughty list" of BC communities released today.  We were, however, cited among the 47 identified last June in the Housing Supply Act. All CRD and Metro Vancouver municipalities are on that long list -- Langford with its explosive growth included. Sensibly enough, it's not on the new list, and neither is Metchosin, Highlands and View Royal.

What all this means isn't clear -- but one interpretation is that the Province recognizes that Sooke and these other communities are on track with their tailor-made housing targets as per each of our housing needs reports. With close to 1,000 starts completed recently or in the permitting stages here in Sooke (fully 650 of them rentals) and likely 1,000 more in the pipeline, we are well ahead of demand for a growing community that must face the reality of no significant short or even long-term planned upgrades for Highway 14 as confirmed recently by Ministry of Transportation staff. 

North Saanich is on the new list of 20, and that will certainly trigger outrage in Deep Cove and Ardmore as the slow-growth lobby that stalled out its latest OCP revs back into action.  Neither the Mayor of North Vancouver nor her counterpart in New Westminster are happy about this outcome either, both saying they want to know how the Province will bolster their resultant infrastructure needs. ("I'm calling BS on this priority list," said New West Mayor Patrick Johnstone.)

For the record, the next 20 priority municipalities identified to receive housing targets are: Central Saanich; Chilliwack; Colwood; Esquimalt; Kelowna; City of Langley; Maple Ridge; Mission; Nanaimo; New Westminster; North Cowichan; North Saanich; City of North Vancouver; Port Coquitlam; Prince George; Sidney; Surrey; View Royal;  West Kelowna; and White Rock. "This includes some communities who are taking important actions and many who need to do more," said Minister Kahlon.  

The first set of 10 BC communities announced on June 1, 2023 (with housing targets in brackets) were: 

• City of Abbotsford: 7,240 units 
• City of Delta: 3,607 units  
• City of Kamloops: 4,236 units  
• District of North Vancouver: 2,838 units  
• District of Oak Bay: 664 units  
• City of Port Moody: 1,694 units  
• District of Saanich: 4,610 units  
• City of Vancouver: 28,900 housing units  
• City of Victoria: 4,902 units  
• District of West Vancouver: 1,432 units  

Rapid housing starts are underway. Example: Saanich Uptown (see District of Saanich's Uptown-Douglas Plan page). 
All housing announcement starts are mapped on the Homes for BC website. 

All this is arising from the April 3, 2023 release of BC's trendsetting  Homes For People Action Plan. 
​See Housing 101 for my comprehensive (read: exhaustive) blog entry from last spring  

​
Update: March 22 
~ Secondary Suite Incentive Program 
- 3,000 forgivable grants over three years to cover up to 50% of construction costs up to a maximum of $40k 
- first-come applications open on April 17
- Province of BC: Secondary Suites home page 
- Home Suite Home: Guidelines on How to Add and Manage a Secondary Suite or Accessory Dwelling Unit in BC (PDF booklet) 

~ Form and character for a streamlined permitting future
Ministry of Housing release of RFP for Standardized Housing Design Project (released March 22) 
Technical briefing + News release

"The anticipated outcome of the Project is a provincially owned catalogue of standardized, customizable small-scale building designs that local governments, builders, and small-scale developers can employ to help streamline development approval processes.  The Contractor will assist the Ministry by producing a minimum of ten (10) small-scale multi-unit housing designs in accordance with the design parameters set out in this RFP.

Produce at least ten (10) designs for the Province that align with the design parameters specified in Appendix D and include the following: 
o At least one prime Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) design and two meaningful variations; 
o One prime duplex design; 
o One prime quadplex design; 
o One prime four-unit townhouse design; 
o One prime triplex design; and 
o At least three additional meaningful variations to be determined with Ministry staff that may include the following typologies (duplex, quadplex, four-unit townhouse or triplex) 

The designs must be capable of adaptation to site-specific considerations. A meaningful variation is intended to provide a functional difference. The meaningful variation can be substantially based on the Prime design. 
A meaningful variation must include a different bedroom count from the prime design (additional variations are encouraged but not requirements of the scope of work). 
Other meaningful variations could include: 
• Difference of form and character (e.g. roofline variation for different snow loads) 
• Different interior layout (e.g. size or location of particular rooms) 
* Different interior or exterior finishes are not considered to be a meaningful variation." 

Precedents
* The Vancouver Special 
* Plan Book of Ideal Homes (T. Eaton Company, 1946) 
* Small House Designs (CMHC, 1954) 
​* Small House Designs (CMHC, 1965)
* Mail-Order Houses in 1910s/1920s (Canadian Museum of History) 

Today's Pioneers
- Williams Lake "Pre-Reviewed Accessory Dwellings" - five pre-reviewed design plans that can be issued for free to builders within the City who have a valid ADU building permit + How To Guide 


Feb. 27
* Bill 46 Housing Statutes (Development Financing) Amendment Act, 2023  + FAQ
Introduces optional Amenity Cost Charge (ACC) system province-wide to potentially replace or augment the discretionary Community Amenity Charges (CAC) now charged to new development by local governments. 

"ACCs can be collected for a wide variety of amenities including, but not limited to, a community, youth, or senior’s centre; a recreational or athletic facility; a library, a public square. Additional examples of amenities could include community arts spaces, community museums, and streetscape gardens. Like DCCs, ACCs can only be used to fund the capital costs of amenities, which includes planning, engineering, construction, and interests costs attributable to an amenity project. 

Bill 46 also introduces new Development Cost Charge categories in addition to the current set of road/sidewalk, wastewater and parks projects. 

"Examples of projects that can be included under the new DCC categories include: 

• Fire protection facilities: fire halls, training facilities, staff quarters, and maintenance facilities. 
• Police facilities: Municipal jails, cells, and holding facilities, training facilities, and community policing centres. 
• Solid waste and recycling facilities: landfills, recycling depots and processing facilities, and compose facilities. 

Capital projects under the new DCC categories must directly or indirectly service the new development and must be owned or controlled by the local government."

BC Builds Announcement (Province of BC, Feb. 13)
"BC Builds, an initiative delivered through BC Housing that leverages government, community and non-profit owned and under-used land to speed up the delivery of housing and help bring costs more in line with what middle-income households earn. All BC Builds projects have a target of middle-income households spending no more than 30% of their income on rent."

Federal Government Contributes $2 Billion to BC Builds (Government of Canada, Feb. 20) 
"Combined with the Province’s investment, the $2 billion in low-cost loans, available through the Apartment Construction Loan Program, will help build a minimum of 8,000 to 10,000 additional new homes for the middle class. As more land is secured, thousands more units will be built – fast‑tracking construction and ensuring that more of these homes are available at below-market rates."

UBCM Housing Summit, Feb. 13/14, 2024
- Powerpoint presentations 
i.e. CRD Affordable Housing overview + legal issues + population growth. 

- "Tacking the Housing Crunch: Outcome of the 2024 Summit" (MLA Canada) 
- "BC Housing Reforms Meet Mixed Response Among Mayors" (Vancouver Sun, Feb. 13)
- "Can BC Build Its Way Out of the Housing Crisis?" (Business In Vancouver, Feb. 13)

- "How BC Plans to Build Rental Housing for Middle-Income Canadians" (CBC, Feb. 17) 
- "Capacity and Scale Questions Greet New Program" (Victoria News, Feb. 14)

HousingHub Program Overview (BC Housing, Feb. 2024) 
Housing Projects Across BC (map)

Local Government Housing Initiatives (Province of BC, updated Feb. 9)

Provincial $51m fund to support local governments adopt housing legislation (Jan. 17 announcement) 
Sooke receives $223k from the total distribution "to update housing needs reports, zoning bylaws, development cost charge and amenity cost charge bylaws, and community plans by hiring consultants and staff, and to do research and community engagement" ​


Red-letter day: Feb. 12, 2024 
First District of Sooke rezoning applications without requirement for public hearings  ~ Agenda (see pp. 175-216 for the proposed 19 townhomes at the entrance to Sunriver; and pp. 225-272 for the town centre rezoning) + District of Sooke explainer re: new policy and public notices

Pro-Active Planning (Province of BC, Feb. 2024)
"Currently, rezoning processes, including public hearings, for stand-alone housing projects are creating lengthy delays and adding costs. ​In many cases the housing being discussed is supported or encouraged in the OCP. To speed up the building of homes for people and support pro-active planning, one-off, site-by-site public hearings for rezonings have been phased out for housing projects that are consistent with OCPs (which already have a public hearing).  

There will instead be more frequent opportunities for people to be involved in shaping their communities earlier in the process, when OCPs are updated. These opportunities, including a public hearing, provide for more meaningful engagement opportunities for a greater number of community members to participate.
Public hearings will continue to be required whenever local governments update or develop new OCPs or consider rezonings for projects that are not consistent with the OCP. People will also still be able to engage with their local elected officials about housing projects through other channels and forums."

Council moved (Feb. 26) that District staff prepare a Public Participation Policy that will outline these alternate channels and forums for public input above and beyond regularized OCP updates with full public input (refreshed every five years, as per provincial legislation with the first due no later than December, 2025).

These are to include: 

- Expanded public comment time (from 10 to 20 minutes) at regular council meetings regarding any item on the agenda, including rezoning applications proceeding without a public hearing. The time alloted may be extended upon majority vote of council (as per Sooke's Council Procedure Bylaw, Section 24) 

- A requirement for pre-rezoning public information nights hosted by the developer with matching online materials for anytime viewing (as directed by Sooke's next Development Procedures bylaw ~ an update on the 2011 model to be introduced soon. Open houses are currently optional.) 

- Improved and more creative/informative notice of application signage at development sites (also as per the Development Procedures bylaw)

- More community open houses and public engagements, i.e. Coffee With Council, market pop-ups and other events at which the public can bend the ears of staff and council in-person. 

- Residents encouraged to write to [email protected] and [email protected] on any subject they wish as is their democratic right

- Informal petitions on any subject. As noted on the BC Government website: "There is no requirement for a local government to take action if a petition is received; however, an informal petition can be a useful tool to bring a local matter to the council or board's attention ... The Community Charter specifies that the full name and residential address of each petitioner must be included on informal petitions to municipal council." 


Updates: Late December
* Small-Scale, Multi-Unit Housing and Transit-Oriented Development Area Scenarios (Province of BC, Dec. 8)
* SSMU Policy Manual and Site Standards (Dec. 7) 
* TOD Policy Manual (Sooke is not included among the 52 identified high-transit junctions in BC; on the South Island, these are at the BC Legislature, University of Victoria, Uptown, Victoria General Hospital, and the Royal Oak, Colwood and Langford bus exchanges)

* BC Drafted A Bold Housing Blueprint: The Rest of Canada Should Copy It (Globe & Mail Editorial Board, Dec. 21) 
"Change will still take time. An analysis the NDP put out showed most of the new housing would be built in the back half of a decade-long outlook. The estimated tally is at least 216,000 more homes than would have otherwise been constructed. The B.C. analysis also suggested those additional homes, over the next five years, could reduce the price of buying or renting by roughly 9 per cent compared with business as usual. The NDP got the big picture right. It’s also working to get the details right." 

* Opinion: Higher Density Means Losing Trees, Gardens and More (Times Colonist, Dec. 21) 

* Reflections on BC NDP Housing Policy (Adam Olsen, MLA, Dec. 19). <clip> "I disagree with the BC NDP’s one-size-fits-all approach in Bill 44. It erodes local government democracy and the mass upzoning of vast swaths of British Columbia is non-planning." 

* Low-Density Development Carries Much Higher Costs (Trevor Hancock, Dec. 17)
* Chasing Higher Density - But To What End (Ex-North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall, Dec. 16)
​* New Legislation Brings Changes to Public Hearings (BC Law Institute, Dec. 15) 
* Many Misconceptions In The Debate About Housing (Times Colonist, Dec. 11)
* BC's Dramatic Plan to Tackle Housing Sparks Alarm About Unintended Consequences (Globe & Mail, Dec. 6)
* Former NDP Premier Mike Harcourt Blasts Top-Down Housing Solution (Vancouver Sun, Nov. 30)

* "The Last Public Hearing" - View Royal Town Hall, Nov. 23 -- What We Heard Report (agenda; see pp. 26-113)

* BC Standardized Housing Design Project (Nov. 16) 
- "Standardized designs can substantially streamline the permitting process to make it easier for local governments to give building-permit approvals quickly and save builders and homeowners the costs that come from expensive design services." +  RFP (deadline: Dec. 12, 2023) ~ "The consultation process will inform the design parameters for up to ten provincial designs for accessory dwelling units and multi-unit buildings up to four units per design that can be accommodated on a single detached lot." 

* Ottawa To Launch Pre-Approved Home Design Catalogue (CBC, Dec. 12) 
* Bring On the Standardized Housing Catalogue (Globe & Mail, Dec. 18)
* In Praise of Cookie-Cutter Housing Design (Globe & Mail, Dec. 13)

​- Small Housing BC + Gentle Density Network 
- Small Housing Toolkit (PDF with 10 housing-type case studies). Defined in the glossary: Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ... Basement suite ... Coach homes ... Comprehensive development ... Cottage housing ... Cluster housing ... Detached townhomes ... Efficiency suite ... Granny flat ... Laneway housing ... Lock-off suite ... Mother-in-law suite ... Micro-suite ... Multi-flex family housing  ... Pocket Neighbourhood ... Secondary suite

* The Vancouver Special 
* Plan Book of Ideal Homes (T. Eaton Company, 1946) 
* Small House Designs (CMHC, 1954) 
​* Small House Designs (CMHC, 1965)
* Mail-Order Houses in 1910s/1920s (Canadian Museum of History) 

​* The Big Bet On Tiny Homes to Help the Homeless (Vox, Nov. 29) 
* Kelowna To Build 120 Tiny Homes (Oct. 2023) + Operators Selected (Dec.) 

Original Post: Nov. 15
Following up on MLA Ravi Parmar's op-ed on the BC NDP's new housing policy announcement and its impacts on Sooke, published online last week and likely in this week's newspaper.  

Key points I want to make which aren't captured in the MLA's high-level editorial: 

i) YES, we need non-profit housing and smaller-footprint, truly affordable market-priced homes and rentals in Sooke. Yet our unique situation as a still small town served by a congested (during peak-hour flows) two-lane (mostly) road doesn't accommodate what, on first exposure, seem to be one-size-fits-all directives from Victoria. (Guarantee: The new regs will surely prove to be more nuanced and flexible than many fear.)  

ii) Tough choices ahead: Either we in Sooke recognize our capacity under current circumstances and start planning to consciously/mindfully pump the brakes on our rapid population increases; or we acknowledge that significant, character-changing growth is inevitable to the point where we absolutely require a secondary road/four-lane/transit-upgrade traffic solution. (The message in the current and pending OCPs is that most of us want to retain, to a significant degree, the Sooke we know and love.) 

iii) Either way, we require significant road infrastructure funding far exceeding our annual allotment of Canada Community Building Fund dollars from Ottawa, the $5.9 million we received this spring through the province's one-time Growing Communities Fund and other grant sources (which we've capitalized on nicely if unpredictably since 2017). Relying on property taxes and Development Cost Charges alone is insufficient and unfair, as Deputy Mayor Al Beddows told the CBC last week. 

iv) Unfair because, as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities reminds us in its Municipal Growth Framework campaign, Canadian municipalities received 16.7 cents of every tax dollar collected in the 1960s. This share has plummeted 50% to 8 to 10 cents today. (The UBCM is doing its part with BC advocacy focused on local-government $$$ needs for attainable housing, community safety and climate change.) 

v) Builders across Canada, not just in Sooke as our MLA notes, have famously been frustrated by building permit delays for decades now. Sooke councils have been trying to fix the local system since at least 2012. No local government I'm aware of, including Langford with its mythic and misleading 48-hour permit turnarounds, is immune to these systemic delays.  

vi) Regarding building timelines, the District is in the home stretch of a permit approval review process that will make a dramatic difference to how applications are both accepted (only when 100% complete) and processed expeditiously once a radically overhauled system is implemented at the District next year. (Expect to see the final Urban Systems report late this year or early next); and

vii) Sooke is, in fact, well ahead on its housing needs targets with as many as 800 units (rental and owner-occupied) approved for construction and likely 1,000 more in discussion/process/pre-approval design stages. To repeat the old refrain: How much more can we accommodate before our quality of life here suffers irreparable harm? 

First, a recap of recent first-read legislation and announcements from Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon  

* Bill 46 Housing Statutes (Development Financing) Amendment Act, 2023 
* Bill 44 Housing Statutes (Residential Development) Amendment Act, 2023 
* Bill 35 Short-Term Rental Accommodation Act, 2023 

* Small-Scale, Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) + Changes to Local Government Act 
+ Technical Briefing (Nov. 1) + Update (Nov. 7) 

"In most areas within municipalities of more than 5,000 people, these changes will also require bylaws to allow for: 
- three to four units permitted on lots currently zoned for single-family or duplex use, depending on lot size; and 
- six units permitted on larger lots currently zoned for single-family or duplex use and close to transit stops with frequent service. 
- Municipalities covered by the legislation (population 5k-plus) may permit additional density if desired, but cannot have bylaws that allow for fewer permitted units than the provincial legislation."

Directions to local governments: 
"- All local governments: Update housing needs reports (HNR) using a standard method, for a more consistent, robust understanding of local housing needs over 20 years; (logical given every housing report I've seen is markedly unique)
- Municipalities: Plan for and engage communities on these needs in official community plans (OCP), updated every five years to reflect the most recent HNR so communities can plan together; (previous best-practice was every 10 years)
- Municipalities: Align zoning bylaws with the OCP and HNR to pre-zone for the 20-year total amount of housing their communities need; and
- All local governments: Eliminate redundant processes and one-off public hearings that slow down housing projects that already fit with community plans, and instead make best use of more frequent opportunities for people to be involved in shaping their communities earlier in the processes." (read Simon Fraser University's Renovate the Public Hearing reports for the pros/cons and possibilities)  

"Timelines 

• December 2023 – SSMUH policy manual and site standards provided to local governments. (Done)
• January 2024 – Housing Needs Report instructions provided to local governments.
• January/February 2024 – Details announced for $51 million funding allocation.
• June 30, 2024 – Local governments must have updated their bylaws to accommodate SSMUH requirements
• June/July 2024 – OCP/zoning review/update instructions provided to municipalities.
• Jan. 1, 2025 (date subject to regulation) – Local governments must have completed their interim HNR.
• Dec. 31, 2025 (date subject to regulation) – Municipalities must have completed their first review and update of their OCPs and zoning bylaws (based on interim HNR)."

* More Homes Near Transit Hubs + Policy Framework (Nov. 8)
- Target: 100,000 new units to be built in TOD (Transit Oriented Development) areas in 30 BC municipalities
(unidentified to date, so the are-we/aren't-we question is unanswered. Our relatively modest transit hub is currently outside Village Foods, and is to be relocated to east of the library on Wadams Way as Lot A is developed. If we are to be included, then 10-storey buildings are to be allowed within 400 meters of the hub vs. our current maximum of six storeys anywhere within the town centre north of Sooke Rd.)

* Short-Term Residential Accommodations Act (Bill 35) - Oct. 16, 2023 
​* New rules for short-term rentals (Province of BC) 

* Homes For People Action Plan (April 3, 2023) 
- See Housing 101 for my comprehensive (read: exhaustive) blog entry from this spring 


The Sooke context ... 
* The red-tape issues that Sooke builders and our larger-scale out-of-town developers (based in Langford, Saanich, Campbell River, Vancouver, Richmond and elsewhere) face in working with the District have, in point of fact, existed here and everywhere else in BC and Canada as a whole for many years/decades.  

* A solution to BC-wide permitting inefficiencies has been sought ever since Premier Horgan's newly formed government recognized that the province was facing a housing crisis after decades of inaction by Ottawa and the BC Liberals. Its Homes For BC housing affordability masterplan (2017) was followed a year later by the Development Permit Process Approvals Review (final report, 2019). The latter identified needed reforms to the system and was based on consultation with UBCM staff, local government officials, builders and developers, non-profit housing providers, academics and community representatives. 

* The recommendations were backed by the UBCM's provincially funded Local Government Development Permit Approvals Program, which since 2021 has funded permit process reviews in  43 BC local governments. 

* Sooke is one of these 43. In our case, we received $494k to undertake a top-to-bottom review and finance needed e-application software upgrades. A draft report from Urban Systems was sent to council last month and an information session attended by councillors Beddows, Pearson and myself followed. The final report will be released late this year or likely in early 2024. Existing bylaws, processes and statistics have been reviewed. Capacity levels, organizational structure and existing policies were discussed at length with District staff. Members of the building community (Sooke Builders Association included) were consulted at length. Best practices were adopted from sister reviews undertaken -- in a dozen cases by Urban Systems itself -- in other similar-sized local governments. And a full set of action items/recommendations are delivered so as to kickstart implementation ASAP in 2024. 

* Without sharing any spoilers pending the final report, Urban's Development Application Processes Assessment and Recommendations summary report smartly addresses the key issues identified in BC's 2019 review, namely:

- incomplete or poor-quality submissions by applicants;
- increased complexity of building requirements; 
- inconsistent development permit guidelines; 
- contradictory advice from different local-government departments; 
- lack of transparency on the status of development applications; 
- lack of consistency of requirements between neighbouring local governments 

​* Question I ask again: Was there ever a golden era of fair and speedy building permit turnarounds as some seem to believe? Langford continues to be applauded for its so-called 48-hour permit approvals, but what's misunderstood (as I comprehend it) is that this speedy guarantee only kicks in following untold months of necessary groundwork by applicants and municipal staff; it requires submission of a complete building permit application, site plans, construction drawings, geotech review, professional engineering and other reports, and completion of all City of Langford approvals. That done, two working days is a breeze. 

* Reality Check: The District is short-staffed and employees are hard to find here as in other local governments and employment sectors. Still to be hired is a Chief Administrative Officer, for most notable instance. The planning and building departments currently lack multiple key staff. The help-wanted list includes a Director of Planning (with this week's news that Matthew Pawlow has taken a position with the Ministry of Housing), Chief Building Official, a Building Official II, and a Planning and Development Administrator. Good news: Manager of Community Planning Jayden Riley has been hired recently. And former CBO Stan Dueck is pitching in part-time to help with building inspections. 

* Two questions that District staff will bring forward for discussion with council in months ahead ...

1. What does the Province's Nov. 1 announcement mean for our pending Official Community Plan? Should we go ahead as intended once the new CAO is hired ... or wait until the promised June/July 2024 delivery of "OCP/zoning review/update instructions provided to municipalities"?

2. Likewise, the Local Government Act requires a new Housing Needs Assessment every five years. Our first-time 2019 version is due for an update a year from now. Directions on how to proceed with it will flow from Victoria in early 2024. 

* "Patience, grasshopper, all is coming ..." (Source: Anonymous) 

Feedback 
* BC housing legislation impact on democracy (Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch video, Nov. 17)
* Taking Stock of the BC NDP's Housing Blitz (The Tyee, Nov. 16 ... see comments)
* BC Housing Bills Transformational But Will Take Time (CBC, Nov. 11) 
* BC United's Kevin Falcon Responds (Rob Shaw, Nov. 12) 
* View Royal Mayor Sid Tobias Schedules Last Public Hearing On Housing - Times Colonist (Nov. 11, 2023) 
* View Royal Wants Audit of BC Housing Legislation - Times Colonist (Nov. 10, 2023) + request letter 
* BC Government Mulls Legislation to Stop Giving Housing Cash Directly to Munis - Vancouver Sun (Nov. 8)
* All Housing Theme Is All Consuming - Times Colonist (Nov. 8, 2023) 
* Public Hearings Curbed In Housing Bill - Les Leyne, Times Colonist (Nov. 4, 2023)
* Burnaby Mayor Slams Housing Policy - Vancouver Sun (Nov. 4, 2023)
* Deputy Mayor Al Beddows' interview with CBC's Gregor Craigie (Nov. 3, 2023)
* Housing Bill Oversight Could Cost Municipalities Tens of Millions, say Mayors  - Vancouver Sun (Nov. 3, 2023)
​* Conservative Party of BC Platform incl. housing 

- Urban Planning (Wikipedia) 

- Young Anderson Bulletins
​* Local Government and the Provincial Housing Agenda (Nov. 24)
* Province Introduces Significant Renovations (Nov. 3) 
* Bill 44 Housing Statues (Residential Development) Amendment Act (Nov. 10)
"One of the significant impacts of Bill 44 will be the reduced scope for local governments to require amenities and amenity contributions in connection with Bill 44’s mandatory zoning requirements. Bill 46 attempts to alleviate this by amending the Local Government Act: (i) to expand the scope for development cost charges to provide funding for fire protection facilities, police facilities and solid waste and recycling facilities and (ii) to allow for the imposition of new “Amenity Cost Charges” (ACCs)." 

- British Columbia Real Estate Association: The Province Goes Big On Housing Policy (Nov. 23)
​- Urban Development Institute: Taxing Growth - Analysing the Taxes and Fees on New Development (PDF)


Related from this blog ... 

- Building/Developing Sooke (May 30, 2023) ... I remain wholly confident that a productive new relationship with the revamped Sooke Builders Association will develop in time as everyone patiently, professionally moves forward as the new system gets established next year and proves itself to the point that understandable frustration, anger and past trauma begins to diminish. 

- Our Up-Sooke-Sized Building Boom (August 26, 2022) ... Zoning and permits are in place, but ground remains resolutely unbroken in a number of situations for reasons I'm not privy to ... inflation, supply chains, labour shortages and the high cost of building anything/everything, most likely. 

​- Sooke's Evolving Road, Sidewalk and Roundabout Network (January 20, 2021) ... Town-centre portions of Otter Point and Church now complete; roundabout work well underway for Church/Throup with the Charters rebuild to follow next year. 

- X Homes + Y People + Z Cars = ? (December 18, 2018) ... Still the defining equation in Sooke, I figure. 

  
Screenshots from the Ministry of Housing Technical Brief ... 

Update April 8: Sooke council has approved a motion I brought forward asking the Mayor to lead a delegation seeking additional staffing at the Sooke Shelter to oversee as many as 19 ground-floor overnight shelter beds at Hummingbird Place (formerly known as the Hope Centre).

The original plan (2020) for the soon-to-open ground-floor hub space run by the Sooke Shelter Society had included a half-dozen 7 PM to 7AM emergency beds in a lay-out that would also feature a common area, commercial kitchen, washer/dryer/shower facilities and, critically, clinic space for support staff, i.e., mental health/addictions professionals and Shelter employees associated with the Reaching Home program who work with the unhoused, the working poor and those at-risk of homelessness.   

It's now recognized that six beds are insufficient for current and especially potential future needs. In response, Shelter staff led by Sherry Thompson and Kristie Miller have re-envisioned use of the common space and pencilled in the extra shelter beds. These would be set-up as needed, operate year-round, and also double as an Emergency Weather Shelter during cold snaps in the winter. To run this expanded operation, the Shelter requires three additional employees as part of its contract with BC Housing.

Securing these new beds would be a game-changer in terms of delivering safe shelter for tenters who currently overnight in public parks and other locations around Sooke.  The problem at Ed Macgregor Park detailed below has seemingly been solved for now, however individuals who camped there have relocated elsewhere, notably the private land behind Hummingbird Place. Add up the Ed Mac tenters (four per night on average in the early winter, rising to a high of 9 last summer) and those elsewhere, and the need is clear and growing. Some individuals want to live rough outdoors, but many want a safer environment. 

The Shelter is home to an evolving group of support staff, residents, drop-ins and peers with lived experience. Collectively they're creating the kind of interconnected community that's central in the social determinants of health. This latest initiative is entirely worthy of new funding, we believe.   [See the advocacy letter in full on pp. 193/94 of the April 8 council agenda.]

Feb. 1, 2024: Attached at the end of this post is the Sooke Homelessness Coalition's 2022-25 Strategic Plan along with a recent power point prepared for the first meeting of the SHC's Community Advisory Team (CAT). Facilitated by the SHC's Don Brown, the CAT includes reps from the Sooke Shelter, DOS Bylaw Services, Sooke RCMP, Sooke Food Bank, Sooke Chamber of Commerce, Sooke Council, local business and resident appointees (including the  Rev. Al Tysick). 

In the note below that I wrote to a resident and which inspired this post, I didn't mention that Budget 2024 will include a funding request for a third Sooke bylaw officer to ensure teams of two are available to do daily checks at tent sites ... necessary given the unpredictable behaviours of individuals who may be dealing with addiction or mental health issues ... in addition to responding to multiple other bylaw needs in our growing community.

The District has also developed a new homeless action plan that kicked off last week ahead of the schedule I mention in my reply below. Ed Mac's stage has now been cleared of the incredible pile of stuff (read: junk to some, treasure to others) that had accumulated there. Such situations will be monitored closely in future.

On Jan. 31, Councillors Beddows, Pearson, St-Pierre and I met in the park with approx. 25 neighbours profoundly concerned about tenting impacts on both the park and the surrounding area. The meeting was organized by the District's CAO Raechel Gray and Communications Coordinator Christina Moog. Two of the group's members are invited to the next CAT meeting to share more. 

The text that Deputy Mayor St-Pierre read aloud at the Jan. 29 Coffee With Council included the following timely remarks about  "homelessness and park safety" in Sooke: 


"Speaking of challenges with housing and our unhoused population, on Saturday, January 20th there was a fire in Ed Macgregor Park where some members of our community are sheltering overnight. 

Upon arrival, crews discovered an unoccupied tent engulfed in flames, which was quickly brought under control. The affected area was promptly sectioned off for further cleanup efforts. 

On Monday, January 22, the District initiated a comprehensive park cleanup, addressing not only the aftermath of the fire but also the surrounding area. 

District staff collaborated with the owner of belongings stored near the park’s amphitheatre, coordinating the securing of personal items while facilitating the disposal of remaining materials. 

The District is committed to ensuring the safety of all park users, including visitors, staff, and individuals experiencing homelessness. 

The public is reminded that, following a Supreme Court ruling, where there is limited accessible shelter space in the community, overnight sheltering in parks is permitted from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. However, it is crucial to emphasize that this provision is not intended to serve as a long-term storage solution for personal belongings. 

The District has reestablished an action plan to provide increased maintenance to help ensure Ed Macgregor Park is a safe and welcoming space for everyone to enjoy. Those visiting the park can expect an increased presence of bylaw services and outreach workers. 

Staff will continue to evaluate the park use and related maintenance while also understanding more about shelter capacity and available shelter space. 

We are tracking these costs and will seek to recover associated expenses, if at all possible. 

Over the weekend, MLA Ravi Parmar highlighted his commitment for helping us realize an integrated health centre in Sooke. The identified site for this facility is on Wadams Way by the library."

PS This year's Coldest Night of the Year march to raise funds for the Sooke Shelter Society is on Saturday, Feb. 24. Sign up or donate as the SSS strives to exceed the record $30k raised last year. https://cnoy.org/location/sooke
 

Now onwards with the original post ... 

A resident wrote recently (Jan. 22) with concerns about unhoused individuals in the town centre and tenters in Ed Macgregor Park, the latter sparked by the potentially extremely dangerous fire at one campsite there last weekend (identified early on by a neighbour and fortunately extinguished by Sooke Fire in short order). She was also concerned by the growing collection of material (read: stuff and/or junk) piled under cover on the bandshell by one group of campers.

As Council's appointee to the Sooke Homelessness Coalition,  I wrote back ... 

Mayor Tait has forwarded your email for reply in my role as co-chair of the Sooke Homelessness Coalition along with the Sooke Shelter Society's Melanie Cunningham. 

You're far from alone in feeling unsafe in the park and being disturbed by the scenes there. Some demand strong enforcement, others call for compassionate alternatives and solutions to a growing human crisis that is common across Canada.  Unquestionably, all of us want to feel safe and secure to enjoy our seaside park and the town centre. 

As I'm sure you're aware, homelessness and the risk thereof, related mental health and addictions issues, poverty and the lack of affordable housing are among the top issues of our times.  Sooke is not immune. 

The BC Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that tenters may set up in public parks from 7 PM to 9 AM when shelter space is unavailable.  A group of unhoused (individuals and some family groups) have opted to overnight in Ed Macgregor since 2022 given its proximity to the services and supports across the road at the Sooke Shelter.  Tenters in years previous would camp out-of-sight on private land behind the Hope Centre and in various spots around Sooke. 

The average number of tents at Ed Mac is about four per night, according to Sooke Bylaw Services. Our two Bylaw Officers enforce the guidelines. Sooke RCMP are also involved at times. District Parks staff frequently are on site to remove garbage, sodden blankets and other trash.

A new wrinkle is the volume of random stuff several groups have brought to certain tent sites,  in particular the sheltered area under the bandshell. 

In response, the District has notified tenters that they have until Feb. 1 to clear out these items. A week next Thursday, staff will collaborate with Victoria Contracting and outreach workers from the Shelter to help individuals remove, store and/or dispose of this material. Staff will continue to keep a close eye on the park as ever and there will be subsequent clearances as and if new possessions accumulate. Materials with any personal or financial value will be held for 30 days so they can be reclaimed. 

We're fortunate that the issue is on a relatively small scale in Sooke compared to larger centres. The Province has established and continues to fund the Sooke Shelter at the Hope Centre (now known as Hummingbird Place).

Langford, as you may be aware, lacks any such shelter and homelessness has evolved into a significant issue with no easy solutions despite the action you reference.  I know that this is a matter MLA Parmar is committed to addressing, just as he is here in Sooke where he cheers on and supports our proactive grassroots work on what is a provincially mandated matter.  

The Sooke Homelessness Coalition was founded in 2018 and much dedicated work on this "wicked" (i.e., incredibly complex and multi-faceted) issue continues. Participants include the Shelter, the T'Sou-ke Nation, Sooke Bylaw, Sooke RCMP, Sooke Fire, BC Housing, Island Health, the CRD's Reaching Home program, the Alliance to End Homelessness in Greater Victoria and others. We are unfunded, rely on volunteer participation and are entirely grateful for the remarkable work of Sooke Shelter staff 24/7. 

A new SHC advisory working group is underway involving many of these groups along with Councillors Beddows and St-Pierre. I'll cc them and others here to share your concerns and my response.  ​

sincerely, 
Jeff 

And in answering further questions, I wrote: 
District staff have enforcement authority as per Sooke bylaws. Council has the authority to enact and amend bylaws. There are exceptions when the District must comply with other orders of government or judicial authorities. In this case, the BC Supreme Court has ruled that when there is insufficient shelter space, then the unhoused are permitted to stay overnight in parks.  

Staff and RCMP work with the unhoused, and cleaning up Ed Mac and other Sooke parks is part of their operational duties year-round. I cannot provide you with specific costs for either their time or the clean-up that took place yesterday. I'm told the District continues to drill down and better understand costs of this kind, and will explore opportunities to recover the costs, if possible, as part of our advocacy with the Province. 

Apart from staff time, the District has a service agreement with the Sooke Shelter ($7k in 2023) funded through the Province's COVID Recovery Fund. The lion's share of its funding is through BC Housing, grants and its own fundraising efforts (Coldest Night of the Year, for instance). 


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While I'm here I'll share more as is tradition on this blog. 

In November 2021, shortly before the first of three community consultations that produced the SHC's first three-year Strategic Plan, I assembled this long and winding post on this subject. 

In brief, it states that the Coalition was launched in 2017 by Mayor Tait and the District in association with Sooke Shelter's Sherry Thompson and Sooke Region Communities Health Network's Mary Dunn and Christine Bossi. The Coalition's goal is to gather "local housing, health and social service providers, businesses, people with lived or living experiences of homelessness, and concerned citizens" in a collaborative mission "to develop and drive solutions to end homelessness." 

The SHC is a satellite of what is now known as the Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region. 

The SHC's terms of reference dictate that it advocate for and support those who do the hard front-line work at the Shelter while also more generally addressing homelessness and the risk-of-it in the Sooke region. It has no operational budget nor staff support. Meetings are attended by reps from the SSS, SRCHN, the T'Sou-ke Nation, the CRD's Reaching Home program, and DOS Bylaw, among others. Participation has declined now that the Shelter is established and operational vs. the critical period when strong advocacy and liaison was required prior to BC Housing's purchase of the Hope Centre as Sooke's first shelter in February 2021.

This said, I'm happy to report that the newly formed SHC Community Action Team is bursting with new energy. The membership list is attached below. We've met twice to date. This month's meeting led by facilitator Don Brown featured presentations by MLA Ravi Parmar, M'akola Housing Society's Kevin Albers and Alita Torcher (as managers of the BC Housing buildings on Charters and and Drennan), Bylaw Officer Medea Mills, RCMP Detachment Commander Greg Willcocks and the Food Bank's Kim Kaldal. [The Sooke News Mirror previewed the CAT last year.]

The SHC Strategic Plan, completed in mid-2022, features recommendations tackled to varying incomplete degrees by the SHC and, much more efficiently and fully in its case, by the SSS team led by Sherry Thompson and Kristie Miller. 

Sooke Homelessness Coalition
* Advocacy for stable, long-term funding (notably with District of Sooke for the first SSS Service Agreement)
* Ongoing stakeholder engagement via regular meetings (six times per year)
* Establishment of a Sooke Community Advisory Team
* Advocacy for an addiction treatment centre in the Sooke region (support in principle from T'Sou-ke, DOS and Island Health and much groundwork by SHC working group member Kelly Roth, ex-ED of the Coalition to End Homelessness)
* RV/Homeowner Matchmaking pilot project and other alt.housing solutions (recommendations presented to MLA's Horgan and Parmar in 2022/23.)

Sooke Shelter Society
* Ongoing day-to-day operations and management for 33-unit residence
* Out-reach workers dealing with 225 individuals in Sooke (unhoused and those at-risk of homelessness) 
* Management of a $1.4 million annual budget  
* Operationalize the Sooke Hub at the Hope Centre, i.e. ground-floor complex featuring office space for support workers, six emergency shelter beds, commercial kitchen, showers, washer/dryer. 
* Fundraising Campaigns (including Coldest Night of the Year)
* Grant writing and research 

The Strategic Plan captures the seven chief recommendations in Gemma Martin's Beyond the Paradise: Homelessness in the Sooke Region (2021), prepared for the Sooke Region Communities Health Network. 

1. Housing First With Wrap-Around Support - roof over head for the chronically homeless + on-site mental health and addiction services (as championed by many, including the City of Victoria's Breaking The Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness report, related housing-first case studies in the region and the Medicine Hat, Alta. Plan to End Homelessness.)

2. Transitional Housing - 33 units at Hummingbird Place (formerly the Hope Centre) managed by the Sooke Shelter Society following BC Housing's purchase of the Hope Centre in February, 2021.  There was a surge in attention to and care for the homeless in Sooke during COVID (i.e., the temporary shelters at SEAPARC, Ed Mcgregor Park and the former Mulligans/Speed Source building at John Phillips Memorial Park.) 

3. Hub Service Model - Hummingbird Place provides one-stop access for vulnerable populations to case workers, support services and information about available services,  including healthcare, housing support, washing facilities, food, employment, training opportunities. The ground floor of the Hope Centre (former St. Vincent de Paul store) is slated to become this hub with full-time staff, six shelter beds for temporary visitors, programming space and a commercial kitchen/dining space where upstairs residents will have communal meals. 

4. Meaningful Alliances with First Nations in the Sooke Region

5. Education & Communication - Outreach to the community to explain the problem and how its being addressed, "using in part the voices of people with lived experience." (Misunderstanding abounds, of course. A Winnipeg Free Press article, for instance, quotes Carolann Barr, executive director at Toronto-based non-profit Raising the Roof, as saying that "people who are homeless are more often victims than criminals. The general public might think that people who face homelessness are actually perpetrators of crime, but most research and most statistics available indicate that people who are homeless are at greater risk of violence and attack, obviously because they don’t have a safe place to go home to.'") 

6. Access to Affordable Housing - Martin quotes one of her lived-experience survey subjects as saying "it's getting to the point (in Sooke) that it's feeling like a lottery to get a viewing even at an apartment, let alone being selected."  Rent Smart service ... BC Non-Profit Housing Association

7. Investment in Localized Specialized Services  


Wanted: Truly Affordable Non-Profit Housing
This requires a blog post of its own. In it, I would cite ...

- Housing section of Sooke's pending Official Community Plan, pp. 135-142 + Actions # 84-101 in the implementation plan (pp. 170-71)
 
- Sooke Housing Needs Report (2019) - a new report is required by the province every five years and is due this year  

- Sooke Affordable Housing Committee (2018/2020) recommendations, minutes and agendas 
i.e., https://sooke.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Nov-28-2019-Affordable-Housing-Comm-mins.pdf

- Sooke Affordable Housing & Social Housing Policy, 2007 

- Depending on the results of the  Alternate Approval Process that closed on Feb. 5, the CRD may be going ahead in increments with an $85m loan allowing it to ante up with federal and provincial funds to fast-track the Regional Housing First program. This equates to a maximum of $26 per average assessed CRD taxpayer on our tax bills this year and ongoing.  

From the CRD FAQ: "If the borrowing bylaw is adopted the CRD would be able to leverage potentially hundreds of millions of additional funds from provincial and federal government partners who are also highly motivated to advance housing affordability. An example of this is the Regional Housing First Program where the CRD contributed $40 million that was matched by the BC government through BC Housing and the federal government through CMHC. This resulted in $120 million available to finance affordable housing properties and ultimately more than 1500 rental units, ranging from shelter rate units at $375/month to near-market rentals geared to households with moderate incomes. 

The increased capacity for borrowing that the CRD is seeking, when combined with funding from other orders of government, could deliver as many as 2,000 new units of affordable housing in the coming years, doubling the CRHC’s portfolio, and providing a regional approach to increased affordable housing options."  

Sooke represents 3% of the CRD total population. Ipso facto, this means we're due at least 60 of the promised new units under the Regional Housing First program should this borrowing go ahead. The M'akola/BC Housing projects on Charters and Drennan are under the Housing First banner.  ​


Challenging Situations 
If you have concerns about the mental health of an unhoused person and potential outcomes of their actions, you're advised to contact Sooke RCMP.  Officers have the power to apprehend under the BC Mental Health Act. If a medical incident, they will call an ambulance. 

In the event of an immediate emergency, call 911.

Island Health’s Integrated Mobile Crisis Response Team covers the South Island, including Sooke. Call the Vancouver Island Crisis Hot Line at 1-888-494-3888. 

Section 28 of the Mental Health Act authorizes police to apprehend an individual if satisfied that he/she/they is behaving in a way that will endanger their own safety or the safety of others. This is in situations where individuals apparently have a disorder of the mind that requires treatment and which seriously impairs their ability to react appropriately to their environment or to associate with others.

If an individual is apprehended under the MHA, the police officer must take them to a physician for examination. If the physician completes a medical certificate for the involuntary admission, they may be admitted to a designated facility. If the physician does not complete a medical certificate for the involuntary admission, the individual must be released.

- List of BC mental health facilities and psychiatric hospitals (2022). VGH, Royal Jubilee and Cowichan Valley Hospital are those in our vicinity. 

- Province of BC Safer Communities Action Plan (announced Nov. 23, 2022) includes the following measures and initiatives:

• New repeat violent offender coordinated response teams that include police, prosecutors and probation officers;
• Expanding the use of mental-health crisis response teams, to alleviate the burden on local police and improve response to those in crisis;
• A new addictions care initiative at St. Paul’s Hospital that helps individuals more easily transition between various forms of care and response;
• Opening ten Indigenous Justice Centres to provide culturally appropriate support to Indigenous Peoples involved in the justice system;

~ Ending Encampments and Housing Insecurity
~ B.C. premier's expansion of involuntary medical treatment infringes on human rights: advocates (CBC, Nov. 27, 2022)

- The Canadian Mental Health Association has established Peer-Assisted Care Teams (PACT) on the lower mainland and in Victoria (AVI Health and Community Services). The latter served Sooke at one point through its now-closed Langford office.  
 
- Province of BC Mobile Integrated Crisis Response: “The provincial government committed $3 million to launch additional Mobile Integrated Crisis Response (MICR) teams in nine communities throughout B.C. Vernon’s was announced on Dec. 1, 2023, Penticton’s on Jan. 22, 2024, and there are teams upcoming on the Westshore and in Prince Rupert, and Squamish.  Lower Mainland MICR teams operating in Coquitlam/Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, Abbotsford and Chilliwack were recently launched. Teams have previously been established in Kamloops, Kelowna, Prince George, Fort St. John, Richmond, Surrey, Vancouver, North Shore, Nanaimo and Victoria.” (Global News, January 2024)

- Examples: Victoria Car 87 program + Nanaimo Car 54 program 

- Province of BC Toolkit: Interfaces Between Mental Health and Substance Use Services and Police (2017) 
​
- BC Ombudsperson’s 2019 report Committed to Change: Protecting the Rights of Involuntary Patients Under the Mental Health Act + infographic + 2022 update.   <clip> “In British Columbia, around 15,000 mentally ill people were involuntarily detained in one of B.C.’s over 70 psychiatric facilities in 2016/17 – a number that has grown by approximately 70 percent in the last decade.”

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Addendum
I prepared this library of links for the Strategic Plan. Since they're not live in the document itself, I'll share it again here with connected links ... Some are unfortunately broken, including all from the late, lamented Sooke Pocket News and a remarkable read from former Victoria councillor Stephen Andrew documenting a Pandora St. walkabout with city bylaw officers. 

Sooke and Greater Victoria  
- Sooke Region Communities Health Network Amidst the Paradise (2021) 
- Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness Community Plan to End Homelessness (2019-2024) 
- Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness Reports and Resources

- SRCHN's Sooke Region Food Security Report (2021) 
- Sooke Multi-Belief Initiative Compassionate Action Plan (2020 update) 
- Greater Victoria Point In Time Homeless Count and Housing Needs Survey (2020) + 2018 + 2016
- The Sooke Navigator Project: Using Community Resources and Research to Improve Local Service for Mental Health and Addictions (Dr. Ellen Anderson, 2009) 
 
Housing in the Sooke Region 
- District of Sooke Housing Needs Report (2019) 
 - CRD/Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Housing Needs Report (2020) 
 - Hope Centre Transitional and Emergency Shelter with wrap-around support services 
- T’Sou-ke Indigenous Housing Solutions Lab (2021/22) 
- Capital Region Housing Corporation 
- BC Housing - New Homes Under Construction in Sooke
- BC Housing - Subsidized housing (how to apply) 
- M'akola Housing Society (management of new BC Housing projects) 
 - Coming Home: The Story of the Hope Centre Mural (Natassia Davies, Dahlila Charlie, Nicole Neidhardt, Jesse Campbell) 

Regional, Provincial and National
- Government of Canada Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy + backgrounder 
 - Capital Regional District Reaching Home program + FAQ 
 - Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness Stronger Together Building Community Roundtable (2018) 
 - City of Victoria's Breaking The Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness report (2007)
 - Medicine Hat, Alta. Plan to End Homelessness (2009) + year nine progress report
 - Government of Canada Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (2016)
 - Province of BC: TogetherBC, British Columbia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (2019) 
 - BC Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions - A Pathway to Hope: Roadmap to 2030 (2019) + Progress Report(2021)
- BC Ministry of Social Development & Policy Reduction + reports page  
 
Sooke Region Agencies and Front-line Service Providers 
- Sooke Shelter Society 
- Sooke Food Bank Society 
- Sooke Community Paramedic 
 - District of Sooke Bylaw Services
 - Sooke RCMP
- West Coast Family Medical Clinic 
- Sooke Family Resource Society 
- Sooke Place Housing Society 
- Sooke Transition House Society 
- Sooke School District #62 - Healthy Schools, Healthy People program 
- Holy Trinity Anglican Church Vital Vitals program 
- Sooke Baptist Church Big House Breakfast program
- AVI Health & Community Services + Westshore clinic
 
Related Organizations & Resources
- BC Housing Homelessness Services and Programs
- BC Housing Homelessness Prevention Program 
- BC Toward the Heart harm reduction program 
- Backpack Project  
- Doctors of the World Mobile Health Clinic  
- University of Victoria – Canadian Managed Alcohol Program Study
- Housing Overdose Prevention Sites (HOPS)  
- SOLID Outreach Victoria (Peer-based health education and support services) 

 Selected Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness Reports 
- Archive of Reports and Resources
- Homelessness in Greater Victoria: 2014/15 Report on Housing & Supports (2015)
- Creating Homes: A Community Guide to Affordable and Supportive Housing Development (2019) 
- Community Planning Day Summary (2019)
-  Health and Housing Think Tank Summary Report: A Vision for Greater Victoria (April, 2021) 
-  Functional Zero Working Group Report (Jan. 2022)
- 940 Caledonia: A Framework for Sanctioned, Self-Managed & Supported Encampments for People Experiencing Homelessness (2022) 
- Face To Face with Stigma (Participant Package) 
 
Miscellaneous Resources and Reports 
- BC Housing: Community Acceptance of Non-Market Housing Toolkit (2019)
* Guide One: Building Partnerships with Local Governments
* Guide Two: Design Considerations to Gain Community Acceptance
* Guide Three: Gaining and Maintaining Community Acceptance
* Guide Four: Sample Materials for Non-Market Housing Suppliers 
* Guide Five: Additional Resources  
 
- BC Housing: Community Benefits of Supportive Housing (Infographic) 
- Province of BC Income Assistance Rate Table (updated Oct. 2021) + Support & Shelter page 
- Sooke School District #62 Healthy Schools, Healthy People infographic on youth issues (2019) 
- The Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2019) 
- Core Service Gaps in Indigenous Wellness (Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness) 
- Gender Equality Project (Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness)
 
- BC Housing: Emergency Shelter Program Framework (2018) 
- BC Housing: Tiny Homes – An Alternative to Conventional Housing (2021) 
 
- The Pan-Canadian Women’s Housing and Homelessness Survey (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2021) 
- An Affordable Housing Plan for British Columbia (BC Rental Housing Coalition, 2015) 
- Ending Working Poverty in Canada: How To Get It Done (Vibrant Communities/Tamarack Institute, 2021) 
- Situation Tables: A Model for Community Safety and Well-Being in British Columbia (BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General) 
 
- Yes, In My Backyard: Welcoming Inclusion, Upholding Human Rights (Pivot Legal Society, 2020) 
- COVID 19: The Beginning of the End of Homelessness (City of Victoria, 2021) 

Media Coverage 2018/2022 
- "Homeless In Sooke for Safety" - CBC (March 20, 2018) 
- “Members of Sooke Affordable Housing Committee Appointed” – Sooke Pocket News (July 10, 2018)
- “Homelessness in Sooke – It Exists” – Sooke Pocket News (July 27, 2018)
- “More Information on the Sooke Extreme Weather Shelter” – Sooke Pocket News (Feb. 9, 2019)
- "Sooke Delivers on Helping the Homeless" - News Mirror (Jul. 13, 2020) 
- "Sooke Mayor Pleads for Help with Homeless" - Times Colonist (Oct. 8, 2020) 
- "Affordable Housing Projects Planned for Sooke Badly Needed" - Times Colonist (Feb. 17, 2021) 
 - “New Affordable Rentals, Supportive Homes Coming to Sooke” – CHEK News (Feb. 17, 2021) 
- "Sooke Homelessness Report Highlights Lack of Services" - News Mirror (March 11, 2021) 
- "How A Sooke Family Fell Through the Cracks into Hidden Homelessness" - Capital Daily (June 15, 2021)
- "Sooke Receives Over $400k to Improve Homelessness Services" - Victoria Buzz (Aug. 23, 2021) 
- “My Morning with Victoria Bylaw and the Street Community” – Stephen Andrew (Oct. 9, 2021) 
- “Shelter Residents Help Keep Sooke Clean” – Sooke News Mirror (Feb. 10, 2022) 
- “Coldest Night of the Year Back to Raise $20k for Sooke Shelter Society” – Sooke News Mirror (Feb. 10, 2022) 
                        
Foundational Documents on Human Rights and the Right to Housing
- Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) 
- National Housing Strategy Act (2019) + Progress on the NHS (Government of Canada) 
- A Primer on Housing Rights in Canada (Parliament of Canada) 
- The Victoria Declaration: A Statement on Governance in Housing & Support Services (Renee Beausoleil, Matthew Wildcat and the UVic Indigenous Law Research Unit, 2020)
- United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (2015) + infographic
- Right to Housing Legislation in Canada + Assessing Canada’s National Housing Strategy (The National Right to Housing Network)
 
In an RV outside Walmart, a senior dreams of housing - Canadian Press, Jan. 27, 2024 
"He's been on BC Housing's waiting list for subsidized housing for two years now. Every time he contacts the agency, staff ask him to check back in another six months, he said. FLight is among a large population of elderly people living in poverty or on its brink in British Columbia, where perennially high housing costs exacerbate countrywide cost-of-living woes. Government statistics show people 65 or older in B.C. are twice as likely as younger adults to be classified as having low incomes in 2021. But it wasn't always like this. Twenty years earlier, it was the other way around. Low-income rates among B.C. seniors have almost doubled since 2001, and are almost seven times higher than in 1996, according to government statistics."

~ "What Does It Look Like To Tackle Homelessness: Lessons from Medicine Hat" (Times Colonist, March 6, 2024)
"Even keeping track of the numbers is challenging; federal government statistics dating from 2017 indicate 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness in any given year and acknowledge that the hidden homeless, such as couch surfers or those going from shelter to shelter, were not included in those estimates. In 2021, Statistics Canada asked Canadian households whether they had ever experienced homelessness, and one in 10 respondents said they had. Advocates warn of a “humanitarian crisis,” and in some parts of the country, critics say government responses have been inadequate." 
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