Building Housing at Rainbow Ridge

Thanks to community input and financial contributions, the Cortes Housing Society has purchased 51 acres of flat, residentially-zoned land, within a five-minute walk of central Mansons Landing. We are working to develop multiple types of housing on this land starting with the construction of 24 rental townhomes adjacent to the firehall and Mansons Hall property. This project utilizes 6 acres of the 51 acre property. We are also working to develop an affordable home ownership model on the southern part of the property accessed off of Cemetery road.

Rental Housing

Utilizing a BC Housing pre-development loan, we are finalizing the design for the 6 acre site. We are currently developing a renewable district energy plan with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalieis (FCM) and with $140,000 from the Strathcona Regional District we will be building the road to access the site so that we can start to pursue development. We are currently planning to build the project in phases of 7-8 units per phase, including 1,2 and 3 bedroom units. We aim to utilize local materials, labor, pursue high levels of energy and water efficiency.

Affordable Home Ownership

We have heard from the community that there is strong desire for people to have access to land to build their own homes, so we are exploring an affordable home ownership project. This project would make ¼-½ acre sites available for affordable 99 year leases. The sites would have access to shared septic, water and electricity so people can focus on building their own homes. This project is still being developed. Please reach out to us if you are interested in being a part of this project.

Preparing for Construction at Rainbow Ridge

As you will likely recall, CHS has applied for funding from BC Housing 3 times.  Given that we haven’t received funding, the CHS board has decided to develop the first phase of the project without BC Housing subsidies.  We are now preparing to pursue building 7 units of housing on the land.  The first part of this work will entail clearing several acres of land for the road, parking area, houses, and utilities.  We aim to do this work before the nesting season in the spring.  We will be notifying the community in greater detail about this work in the weeks ahead.