Archive

Here are all of our past articles.

BC Healthy Communities nominated for Planning Institute of BC Award

BC Healthy Communities’ planning team, together with Urban Matters, have netted a nomination for the Planning Institute of BC’s New Directions Award for their work on the Strathcona Regional District Housing Needs Assessment. The project, which wrapped last year, was deemed as innovative for its approaches to gathering qualitative data. These included community engagement techniques designed to reach members of the community from across the housing spectrum, particularly from those regularly accessing housing services, those experiencing homelessness, and those with mental health challenges and diverse abilities. This allowed for a report that highlighted not only necessary information on housing stock and tenure, but also systemic issues impacting accessibility and affordability across the region, including systemic racism, lack of food access and challenging transportation scenarios.

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Campbell River and BC Housing collaborate to address housing needs

In an exciting new move, the City of Campbell River is taking action to provide safe and supportive housing for community members, collaborating with BC Housing to establish 50 units of supportive housing in the community within the next two years. The move comes after a 2018 Regional Housing Needs Assessment, conducted by BC Healthy Communities and Urban Matters, identified a number of trends affecting housing in Campbell River, including low rental vacancy rates and rising rental costs that put pressure on the region’s most vulnerable citizens. Additionally, a 2018 homeless count identified at least 81 people experiencing homelessness in Campbell River.

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Over a decade of empowering youth in the City of Victoria

Youth leadership evolves leaps and bounds in the City of Victoria. In the spring of 2004, then-youth coordinator Chelsea Peddle had an idea. She saw a gap between city politics and young peoples’ needs in the City of Victoria, and wanted to close it. She proposed the idea of a Youth Council, where youth could comment and provide feedback to the city on the civic issues that mattered to them. The City responded to her proposal by granting support in principle to begin developing a coalition of youth and stakeholders. Through this process, The City of Victoria Youth Council (CVYC), a youth-driven, grassroots program that offered opportunities for civic engagement to youth who live, work, hang out or go to school in the City of Victoria, was born.

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