Sign the statement of support below to help create more affordable housing options on Denman Island, and to advance the Snag Housing Co-op proposal.

Although our proposal is in its earliest stages, we are already getting significant pushback from folks who, for various reasons, oppose affordable housing. Their voices seem to carry a lot of weight with the Local Trust Committee. So we are hoping to offset those voices through expressions of support for what we’re trying to do.

To the members of the Denman Island Local Trust Committee:

I know that there is a longstanding housing crisis on Denman Island, and I have read the Snag Housing Co-op Proposal and/or attended an info session where the proposal was discussed. I am concerned that, despite several decades of consultation and studies, very little has been done to create affordable housing options. The Islands Trust mandate to “preserve and protect … the unique amenities and environment” of the Trust Area is often invoked as a reason to defer action. But the Trust is supposed to be for the benefit of all “residents of the Trust Area and of British Columbia.” If the housing crisis means that people have to leave the island because there is nowhere for them to live, or cannot afford to move here because the only housing available costs millions of dollars, that is also a violation of the mandate.

It is long past time to take concrete action to provide more affordable housing on Denman, as quickly as possible, while ensuring adequate public consultation and attention to preserving sensitive areas. I believe that pre-zoning properties for cluster housing meets these criteria, and am therefore comfortable with the Snag Housing Co-op proposal being adopted as a Denman LTC project.