March 2022
Steady, patient progress continues along with some encouraging new developments. Last October, the Sooke Region Communities Health Network and the District of Sooke renewed a letter of understanding stating that the District agrees, in principle, with the overall project and that, should things develop as intended, the northeast portion of Lot A kitty-corner to the new library will be leased long-term for the Sooke Region Elder's Complex.

Since then, SRCHN learned that its Investing in Canada Infrastructure grant bid had come up empty in the face of a record number of applications to the federal program. Yet that news was met with understanding and acceptance as a learning-opportunity prelude to the latest in an unfolding series of long-game strategic moves 

For one thing, project leaders led by SRCHN's Mary Dunn have cultivated an ally in the person of BC Seniors' Advocate Isobel MacKenzie. The latter recognizes that Sooke now has the population base that warrants significant investment in a modern multi-generational drop-in centre that will serve the community for the next century. MacKenzie visited Sooke earlier this year, met with Mayor Tait and SRCHN's Dunn and Christine Bossi, and can be counted on to add her voice to local advocacy. 

Meanwhile, a VanCity Good Money grant is funding a full-scale business plan for the complex that, among much else, will identify revenue streams that will keep it operating as intended. 

And SRCHN has secured Sooke's first-ever grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Green Municipal Fund. The grant through the Sustainable Affordable Housing stream provides 50% funding for a $200k investment in "detailed architectural, mechanical, electrical and civil engineering drawings" along with net-zero energy modelling calculations for the proposed new-build (which would make the Elder's Complex an exemplary frontrunner for our town's GHG-busting ambitions.)  

To fund its share of the FCM grant, SRCHN is asking council to release $100k from the District's Seniors/Youth Facility Reserve Fund, built up (to a maximum of $250k) starting in 2015 through property taxes and currently holding $185k. As Dunn notes in her submission: "With the work done to achieve a net-zero energy efficiency, SRCHN would become eligible to apply for a Green Municipal Fund Capital Grant." If successful, that would fund "20% of the total project costs in a combination of grant and low-interest loan."  This will be discussed at council's March 28 meeting (see agenda pp. 215-233.) 

​The other key piece of the project, of course, would be a successful BC Housing application when the next application window opens, likely in the later half of 2023. The launch of a community fundraising campaign led by Carol Pinalski and friends is also to be expected. Add it all up, and this ever-more sophisticated preparatory groundwork increases the odds for success with the provincial housing authority. 

Onwards, then, in the sure confidence that with these skilled #Sooke community builders have the vision, energy and strategic smarts to take this much-needed project across the finish line in due course. 



June 2021
Disappointing to learn at last week's council meeting that BC Housing had recently (and apparently reluctantly given the quality of the proposal ) denied a funding request for 79 affordable seniors' rental units in the future Sooke Region Elder's Complex slated for the northeast corner of our town centre Lot A. (Disclosure: I, like you very likely, was among the 83% of Sooke residents who backed the 2014 referendum. And since 2019, I've sat in on many discussions about the project as council's appointee to Sooke's Age-Friendly Committee and also championed it as chair of the District's Lot A Task Force.) 

The long-sought dream of a purpose-built seniors/youth gathering place in Sooke (details below) remains very much alive, however, as word is patiently awaited on other grant applications -- notably a $2+ million Investing In Canada Infrastructure proposal that, if secured, would kickstart work on the ground-floor Sooke Seniors Drop-In Centre with its promise of multi-generational programming and the involvement of multiple agencies, including the Sooke Volunteer Centre. That decision from Ottawa is due in the fall. A successful bid would trigger other fundraising initiatives and would allow the centre to proceed with the housing component to follow in time. 

BC Housing recently told the Sooke Region Communities Health Network's Age-Friendly Committee team led by Mary Dunn, Rick Robinson, Carol Pinalski, Andrew Moore and Don Brown that they had produced a first-rate proposal in association with consultant Kaeley Wiseman, Victoria-based CitySpaces and the CRD's Capital Region Housing Corporation. 

Yet meeting affordable housing needs across BC requires geographically rationed, Solomon-like decisions that invariably can't please everyone. And when the chips landed last month, Sooke wasn't on the list for any of the 2400 new units to win funding in the second round of the province's Community Housing program. (The June 4 announcement cites 47 indigenous and non-indigenous projects across the province; Van Isle recipients are in Comox, Courtenay, Qualicum Beach, Port Alberni, Tofino and Duncan.) 

The third-round application window will likely open in 2023 for applications to the $1.9 billion, 10-year lifeline that developed from Premier Horgan's 2018 Homes For BC plan (which followed decades of inaction on the social-housing front from the provincial and federal governments).

And you can be sure SRCHN will get an updated but otherwise largely copy-and-pasted application in the door immediately. (Working group reps are meeting with BC Housing soon to learn how best to refine the pitch and improve the odds next time.) 

Along with the downbeat news, it's fair to assume BC Housing advised patience while noting that Sooke has received its share of public funding and favourable housing decisions in recent years: 

* Drennan and Sooke Road's 169 units of affordable housing due to open in fall 2023 (June 11, 2021 update here). Total project budget is $46m, with funds from Ottawa augmented by $10.2 million from BC Housing.  <clip> "A five-storey apartment building with a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes. The project will provide housing for indigenous peoples, people with low to moderate income, and people with disabilities."  (Full details, site plan and drawings in the Nov. 23, 2020 Council agenda, pp. 9-54). 

* Charters and Throup Rd's 75-unit, $21 million affordable rental complex expected to be ready for occupancy in fall 2022. BC Housing purchased the land, and the CRD's Regional Housing Trust is contributing $4.5 million of the bill. See Council agenda of Nov. 9, 2020, pp. 7-47).   

* BC Housing's $8.5 million purchase of the Hope Centre this last February for transitional housing to be operated by the Sooke Shelter Society.  An annual $820k in operating funds is also included. This atop a $1.5 million investment by the province last summer to carve eight new rental units from what was previously commercial space (my beloved quasi-second home, Sooke Yoga & Wellness included) on the building's second floor.  

* Funding for the 42-unit Knox Centre on Church Road. It opened in 2019 after nearly a decade of patient, strategic advocacy and hard work by the team led by Knox Presbyterian's former Reverend Gordon Kouwenberg. 

* Ongoing BC Housing operational funding support for the Diamond Jubilee Housing Society's apartment building next door to the Legion on Eustace.

For more about housing in Sooke, affordable and otherwise, take a depth dive into Sooke's 2019 Housing Needs Assessment. 

The 75-Year (and Counting) Drive for a Seniors' Centre in Sooke 

Looking back through this blog, I'm surprised to learn I'd not addressed the long-haul, wonderfully relentless (thanks to stalwarts led by Ms. Pinalski) campaign for a purpose-built senior centre in Sooke. Here's an updated timeline I first prepared when chairing the District's Northeast Quadrant Lot A Task Force in summer 2019 and which is based on Google research + details I found in some of the reports cited here: 

1945: Establishment of the Sooke Over '60s Club, percursor to Old Age Pensioners Branch #88 (which was responsible in part for setting up the Sooke Elderly Citizens Society, the Contact Community Assistance Society loan cupboard and Contact drivers service). 

1980s: Formation of the New Horizons Activity Society, which evolved into the Sooke Seniors Activity Society (SSAS by name and nature however you want to spell it).

2003: Sooke Senior Drop-In Centre established, first in the Community Hall, then at what was to become Chris Bryant's dental clinic on Sooke Road

August, 2008: Release of An Accessibility and Inclusiveness Study for the District of Sooke, prepared by the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC)

October, 2008: Sooke Economic Development Commission and Sooke Harbour Chamber of Commerce's An Age-Friendly Sooke: What Can We Do? summary of a day-long dialogue at the Community Hall involving 88 Sooke residents, business owners and service providers chaired by Councillor Rick Kasper.  
 
2010: Seniors' Drop-In Centre relocates to the Sooke Volunteer Firefighters Lounge at the Municipal Hall

March 21, 2013: Seniors' Drop-In Centre Society's Visioning for the Future report prepared by the Society's Pinalski, Gerry Quiring, Martin Quiring and David Bennett in association with Vicki Bennett, Susan Winter & Irene Healey and with support from Nicky Logins (Mayor’s Advisory Panel on Community Health & Social Initiatives) and Marlene Barry (Sooke Region Volunteer Centre). 
 
Fall, 2013: Seniors' Drop-In Centre relocates to downstairs at the Sooke Community Hall (2 days per week) 

September, 2014: SRCHN's Getting It Built: Community Centre Report (see pp. 78-11) helmed by Marlene Barry and Ebony Logins. 

November, 2014: Municipal plebiscite question: "Would you support the District of Sooke working with the community to develop multi-use community centre facilities?" YES responded 82.9 percent of a 41.5 percent voter turnout. (3072 votes in favour vs. 631 against) 

January 2015: Managing At Home: A Study of Sooke Seniors Planning to Remain At Home, prepared by SRCHN's Linda Nehra and Anna Moore in association with West Coast Medical Clinic's Dr. Ellen Anderson and Island Health's  Mary Dunn and Emma Isaac. (25% of the respondents noted that social isolation was a critical issue for them, triggering sadness and depression. A central social and activity gathering place was identified as one needed solution.) 

​Spring 2015: District of Sooke Age-Friendly Action Plan released by SRCHN's official Age-Friendly Committee and endorsed by council. (Powerpoint presentation to Council here). 

April 27, 2015: Council motion to create the Sooke Community Centre Advisory Committee chaired by Lee Boyko and featuring reps from the Sooke Community Association, Sooke Fall Fair, SRCHN, Sooke Rotary Club, SEAPARC and Transition Sooke (i.e., yours truly), Ten meetings over 18 months through October 2016.  

May 2016: Community Centre Advisory Committee recommendations presented at the May 16 Committee of the Whole meeting. The following reference the recently purchased "new lands" (aka Lot A) in the town centre ... 
 
~ Recommendation #7 (a) "That, along with supporting a new library, Council plan for multi-use community spaces for the residents of Sooke at the newly acquired Wadams Way location. Spaces may include insides areas for a variety of users and an outside 'community square' gathering space." 
 
~ Recommendation #7 (c) "That council direct staff to support Phase 2 of this committee Terms of References that would 'begin a preliminary concept design for use in developing a business case for the multi-use community centre." 
 
~ Recommendation #7 (d) "That council direct staff to explore the feasbility of mixed housing development in conjunction with the community centre use as a means to fund development of a centre; and that council direct District staff to engage with locally successful funded housing project leaders like M'akola Housing to see funding and project planning support." 

Nov. 27, 2017: Council delegation by Carol Pinalski representing coalition of Sooke Seniors Drop in Center, Age Friendly Committee and Sooke Region Communities Health Network. Seeking Approval in Principal for 4000 to 5000 sq. ft. activity centre on Lot A. 
 
January 15, 2018: Meeting Pinalski's request, Council began process to authorize the use of a portion of Lot A for a Senior's Drop in Centre, in principle (finalized on May 28). Council discussed (as per minutes): 

• A variety of mixed-use including housing on the upper floors and activity space on the bottom, is preferred for the proposed building. 
• There is no future commitment if funds are not raised, the District's support provides the opportunity to apply for grants with a potential locale for the facility. 
• There was a concern with authorizing facilities or buildings on the property with the absence of a concept plan. 
• Council requested a staff report containing an overall vision for Lot A, permitted uses, housing and development plan. 

May 18, 2018: Aging With Grace summit meeting at the Prestige 

July 23, 2018: Council passed Bylaw No. 717 ~  “The Senior/Youth Centre Reserve Fund will be credited with the 2017 closing balance of $202,578 from the Seniors/Youth Centre Reserve and any monies already approved for 2018 transfer into the Seniors/Youth Centre Reserve.” (i.e., $254k in total)

December 2018: Lot A Charrette at the Municipal Hall involving multiple Sooke stakeholder groups, several of us councillors included. Among the uses identified for the portion of the 5-acre property apart from the library: 

"* A home for uses either missing in Sooke or in need of a new home such as affordable seniors housing, senior/youth drop-in centre, health services, office and small retail among others.

* Landscaping and incorporation of existing mature trees and natural drainage channels

* Public plaza for gathering and market space; more permanent home for the Sooke Farmers Market

* How office, commercial, and public space would complement each other to aid current and future residents in Sooke." 


May 27, 2019: Final version of Lot A Charrette Concept Plan presented by Keycorp.  Endorsed by council unanimously with direction to staff to begin Lot A preparatory work: 

i) review Barlett Arborist Report and determine tree retention
ii) Riparian and biological assessment of property
iii) Civil engineer review of property
iv) Rainwater Management Plan for property 
v) Rezoning of site (Recommended: P2 on western half; CD Zone for eastern half) 
 
June 24, 2019: Creation of the Northeast Quadrant Lot A Task Force to explore options to develop this section of the property.  

Oct. 21, 2019: Committee of the Whole presentation of the business case proposals from the Lot A Task Force. (See minutes, pp. 3-5) 

September, 2020: Council approves Elder's Complex proposal. 

Today's Capital Daily feature about a Sooke couple in crisis is a reality check for those of us who rarely  think twice about the fact that our basic needs are routinely met (and far beyond in many of our fortunate cases.)

It's also a context setter for Thursday's working group meeting of the Sooke Homelessness Coalition (SHC), which is now collaborating with the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness in the development of a strategic plan to address Sooke region homelessness -- visible and especially invisible with the growing number of couch surfers and those camping of necessity in vehicles (i.e., hardcore "van life," the kind that is causing municipalities like Squamish and Vancouver to rethink their bylaws.)  The SHC'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."

Given all her other responsibilities, Mayor Tait has stepped back from her founding role with the SHC and asked me to co-chair it alongside Sooke Shelter Society president Melanie Cunningham. Along with many others, I've attended a number of past meetings of it and the preliminary groups leading to its formation, including the Mayor's inaugural Homelessness Forum in early September, 2018 at which the Sooke Region Communities Health Network was asked to address this multi-faceted issue.

A few months earlier, the District's Affordable Housing Committee (click to explore the wealth of related links Britt Santowski compiled) had convened for the first time with a mandate to update the District's 2007 Affordable and Social Housing Policy. One of its outcomes was the 2019 Housing Needs Report, which looked at four key areas:  "Limited availability of housing that is affordable to residents of the community; concerns related to housing adequacy, suitability and accessibility; limited supply of low-income housing in the community; and limited housing diversity across the housing continuum." 

I'm also a co-founder of the Sooke Multi-Belief Initiative, a Transition Sooke working group that emerged from the Mayor's May, 2016 Sooke Health Summit.  Along with reps from a dozen local groups, I was among the 50 locals who brainstormed and developed ideas for the SMBI's Compassionate Action Plan. One of its five priorities is homelessness.  [From the report: "Estimates of the number of homeless people in Sooke range from about 35 to more than 100. They are a nearly invisible part of our community. They spend much of each day trying to satisfy basic needs for food, safe shelter and hygiene. Social contact with the larger community is often avoided by these individuals, just as more fortunate residents tend to avoid contact with them. Many homeless people contend with mental illnesses aggravated by addictions to alcohol and street drugs. These challenges become more difficult during our winter months, especially during periods of extreme weather. Some working poor are also homeless due to the lack of affordable housing in Sooke. They may inhabit vehicles and moored boats."]

All this said, I was raised middle class and have blessedly no experience with the lower rungs of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But I am aware of the reasons we as a society need to be empathetic and proactive.  Compassion = Empathy In Action, definitely a Sooke trademark given the dedicated work of our non-profit organizations, churches, volunteers and the unofficial, in the moment, generosity typified by the caring folks on the Sooke Embrace Facebook page. In 2019, Sooke became the 103rd community worldwide to be officially recognized as a Compassionate City by Charter of Compassion International. 

The Sooke Homelessness Coalition's strength lies in the involvement of individuals and organizations who, unlike me, have direct frontline experience. They include Melanie and her Sooke Shelter Society colleague Sherry Thompson, Sooke Region Communities Health Network (SRCHN) director Mary Dunn, Hope Centre coordinator Carla Simich and the Greater Victoria Coalition's Kelly Roth and Janine Theobald.  Coalition meetings also typically include representatives from the District of Sooke, the T'Sou-ke Nation, the Sooke RCMP, BC Housing, Our Place Society, the BC Ministry of Social Services & Poverty Reduction, and AVI Harm Reduction Services. 

Plans are now underway for a community strategic planning sessions in the fall. A starting point are the recommendations beginning on pg. 66 of this spring's Beyond the Paradise: Homelessness in the Sooke Region report, a must-read prepared for SRCHN by Gemma Martin. All resonate with the "five key community-based outcome areas" in the Greater Victoria Homeless Coalition's Community Plan to End Homelessness in the Capital Region (2019). 

1. "Housing First With Wrap-Around Support" - roof over head for the chronically homeless + on-site mental health and addiction services as championed elsewhere, 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 (2009; year nine progress report here). 

2. Transitional Housing - now available locally following many years of lobbying with BC Housing's purchase of the Hope Centre this February with its 33 shelter-rate rental rooms and community kitchen. This followed a surge in attention to and care for the homeless 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: One-stop access for vulnerable populations to 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" - 

The Hope Centre can position itself as transitional housing given the incoming BC Housing complexes slated for the east side of the town centre (Drennan/Sooke Rd. and Charters/Throup). Under the Building BC program, affordable housing projects offer a mix of options that address various low income thresholds. In Sooke's case, 244 units of affordable housing will be available — 194 units at near-market or affordable rental rates and 49 at the provincial shelter (aka income assistance) rate of $385 per month per person.

In recent years, the Greater Victoria Point In Time count has identified approximately 50 unhoused individuals in Sooke (while not capturing statistics on the tide of couch surfers.) 

Food Security & Poverty Reduction

Related is the final version of the Sooke Region Food Security Report, presented to council last night by its author, SRCHN's Christine Bossi, who worked in association with farmer and Otter Point food security expert Martin Bissig, a board member with Sooke Region Food CHI. 

The pair have documented the issue of food security and poverty reduction in considerable detail. Like Martin, they've identified the realities and gaps in an earnest but overwhelmed system that strives, increasingly so in recent years, as best it can to leave nobody behind.  

The report also documents the range of valiant non-profits doing such essential work locally. And, in its concluding pages, it revives, renews and advances substantial recommendations to guide compassionate community planning ~ namely the need for a Sooke Food Policy Council to spark action; and a local Food Hub with commercial kitchen where "independent entrepreneurs, agricultural, artisanal and others" can prepare all manner of locally sourced food for retail sale.

On these two points, there's already some promising developments: 

i) The District recently agreed to host a grant application that would fund a regional Food Policy Council under the auspices of the Capital Region Food and Agricultural Initiatives Roundtable.

ii) The BC Ministry of Agriculture is committed to creating food hubs across the province where producers can book commercial kitchens to prepare value-added delights and also learn about how to market and sell them profitably. Victoria, the Cowichan Valley, Port Alberni and Bowser south of Courtenay are already in service, and there's no question one belongs on the west shore, suggests Ms. Bossi. (It helps that she is also the chair of the Sooke Community Economic Development Committee, which is dedicated to aligning social, economic and environmental factors in the recommendations it brings to council. (We, too, will make our decisions by weighing the co-benefits identified by Simon Fraser University's ACT team and its Low Carbon Resilience framework.) 

A few not-so-fun facts from the report that capture the scale of the challenge:

* "Around 15% of the households in Sooke and the Sooke Region in general are of low-income, many of which consist of children and seniors. The necessary household income to manage with the cost of living in a BC community of a population under 30,000 is $42,408.00."

* "The lack of availability to food, including fresh produce, was not seen as an issue, but firstly the lack of disposable income and secondly transportation. Once the main bills were paid, of which housing was the main expense, food was the variable in a low-income household"

* "The groups who are most vulnerable to food insecurity are: female-headed single families, indigenous peoples, marginally housed and homeless, and new immigrants.

* "12.4 % of British Columbians were food insecure in 2018 (marginal 3.7%, moderate 5.5% and severe 3.2%)."

* "44% of Canadians say it would be difficult to meet their obligations if their pay was delayed by one week."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes:

* The federal government's Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy provides the national perspective

* From the archive (and as an example of what public education about the issue can look like) ... Excerpts from a FAQ prepared by the District of Sooke in July 2020 to inform residents about local homelessness during COVID: 

Q: Where is this money coming from for this shelter? Is there a cost of this to the District of Sooke? When will we see a breakdown of the costs that will be incurred to ensure this is a responsible financial decision?

- BC Housing will assume all renovation and operations costs.
- The District’s role, through the EOC, was to find a suitable location. This has been done.

Q: How will you keep the surrounding neighbourhood and residents safe?

- As was the case at SEAPARC, and the camp at the park, the RCMP will be assisting with maintaining ongoing safety at the new temporary shelter and the surrounding community.

Q: Will the members of the community have a say in the operation of the shelter?

- The Sooke Region Communities Health Network will provide on-site operations. As well, multiple resource agencies - including the Sooke Shelter Society, AVI Health and Community Services, as well as Island Health will provide wrap-around services to residents.

- The RCMP is also a key member of the community that will be keeping residents at the shelter, as well as the surrounding community, safe.

- It is in everyone’s best interests to ensure Sooke remains a caring, inclusive and safe place to call home.

Q: What other services are you providing to the community to ensure our safety and that crime rates stay low?

- The District knows safety was maintained at both SEAPARC and Ed MacGregor Park and we fully expect the same will hold true at the new site. For more details, please reach out to the RCMP.

Q: If the shelter becomes a problem (I.e. an increased rate in crime, the community feels unsafe, or other negative consequences), what actions will the district take to ensure that the problems are handled efficiently and the occupants will be evicted and moved to a more suitable location?

- It’s unfortunate that some choose to draw a direct link between homelessness and lawlessness.

- The District, along with its partners, will manage any, and all, situations at the new shelter in the same way it did at SEAPARC and Ed MacGregor Park. Both situations served the basic needs of our homeless population without major incident.

- The District sees the provision of the basic necessities of life as a hallmark of a compassionate community and we are happy to do our part. Housing our community’s most vulnerable will benefit everyone in our community.

- This is an interim and temporary fix to the problem of homelessness in Sooke that existed long before the pandemic. And it’s why Sooke has been working closely with BC Housing and the Province to build affordable housing including shelter rate accommodation.

- A number of projects are on the go including development of two adjacent properties located at Drennan Street and Sooke Road as well as an additional property located at Charters . The projects offer stable (shelter rate) housing for those experiencing homelessness, and able to live independently. Some of the Charters housing units are expected to be ready in 2021.

Q: Does the district have a plan? Or is it something that the district will attempt to navigate as you go?

- The District does have a plan and sees this interim shelter as a bridge to our long-term homelessness and supportive housing efforts. For example, announced in December 2018, the District of Sooke and the CRD Board, in partnership with the BC government, recommended land acquisition and development of two adjacent properties located at Drennan Street and Sooke Road as well as an additional property located at Charters. The projects offer stable (shelter-rate housing for those experiencing homelessness, and able to live independently)."


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