Canadian military aware of housing concerns on Vancouver Island
Canadian military aware of housing concerns on Vancouver Island
Canadian military aware of housing concerns on Vancouver Island
HMCS Chicoutimi at CFB Esquimalt after returning home from deployment in 2018. (CTV News)
The Canadian Armed Forces is not immune to the housing crunch on Vancouver Island.
In an email dated May 5, a senior officer at 19 Wing Comox told other military members that Habitat for Humanity may be able to help members with housing in the region.
"Further to our discussion this morning, one potential housing option for our folks is Habitat for Humanity," reads the email.
"Should this be of interest to any of your personnel, please have them review the information located here."
The military has been quick to point out that the email was suggesting Habitat for Humanity as just one resource for military members to consider if they are having trouble finding housing on the Mid-Island.
Defence Minister Anita Anand was in Saanich, B.C., on Tuesday to announce Canada's continued support of Ukrainian war efforts.
While there, Anand said that the federal government was looking to support military members, and that it was putting forward an interim relocation policy.
"In terms of military members and their families who make incredible sacrifices to serve Canada, we will continue to take steps to ensure they are supported," she said.
'THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE'
The owner of a Comox Valley real estate firm says while the market is the tightest he's seen in his 44 years in the industry, he was quite surprised to hear the Habitat for Humanity idea.
"I honestly thought it was a joke," said Gregg Hart, managing broker and owner of Comox Valley Royal LePage.
"You know, Habitat for Humanity is for those people who have a very low income," he said. "It's a charity-based thing and [participants] put in hours of work to benefit from it. So I was very surprised."
Other bases on Vancouver Island are also seeing wait lists for military-owned housing.
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt has 709 residential housing units, with 193 people registered on a priority-one waitlist, and 492 more people on a priority-two waitlist.
The priority-one waitlist is reserved for regular military members, reserve force members who are employed full time on at least a six-month contract, or foreign military or exchange personnel.
Priority-one also means these applicants have been authorized to move to a new location at public expense.
The priority-two waitlist is for regular military members or reserve members employed full-time for at least six months who live in the area but have applied for military housing, including members who are currently living in military housing but who wish to change units due to family size.
Priority two applicants are not considered until all priority one applicants have been accommodated, according to the Department of National Defence.
Approximately 15 per cent of all armed forces personnel live in military residential housing, according to the DND.
The campaign for Patrick Brown said it was consulting its legal team after the leadership election organizing committee of the federal Conservatives voted to disqualify him from the race late Tuesday.
The father of the Edmonton girl who was missing for nine days said he was getting ready to post another update on Facebook last Saturday when police knocked on his door.
An emergency resolution before the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting to reaffirm the suspension of National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has failed in Vancouver.
Two young emergency room doctors, raised and trained in Montreal, are leaving their jobs after only two years to move back to Toronto – and they say the Quebec health-care model and Bill 96 are to blame.
The Crown is seeking to revoke bail for Tamara Lich, a leader of the 'Freedom Convoy,' after she appeared alongside a fellow organizer in an alleged breach of her conditions.
A man charged Tuesday with seven counts of murder after firing off more than 70 rounds at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said.
The Bank of Canada's strategy of rapidly increasing its key interest rate in an effort to tackle skyrocketing inflation will likely trigger a recession, says a new study released Tuesday from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
A high school friend of B.C. teen Amanda Todd has testified he took action when he saw what he described as a “pornographic” picture of her on Facebook in November 2011.
The long-awaited Vancouver Plan is set to go before council on Wednesday after almost four years of work – and Mayor Kennedy Stewart is adding a last-minute amendment.
Chiefs representing Indigenous communities from coast to coast have descended on Vancouver for the Assembly of First Nations General Assembly — with several resolutions on the agenda that could determine the political fate of their elected leader.
The father of the Edmonton girl who was missing for nine days said he was getting ready to post another update on Facebook last Saturday when police knocked on his door.
A U.S. basketball commentator has found himself in the hot seat over comments he made about Toronto and its relationship with Black athletes amid rumours one of the best in the game could be headed north of the border.
As flight delays and lost luggage bring chaos to summer travel plans, Air Canada is advising travellers on how much time they should leave between connecting flights.
Two young emergency room doctors, raised and trained in Montreal, are leaving their jobs after only two years to move back to Toronto – and they say the Quebec health-care model and Bill 96 are to blame.
At least three sleepaway camps in Quebec have temporarily shut down because of COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the province's camps association (ACQ).
Two Montreal politicians and an activist group are calling on the Trudeau government to take responsibility for preserving a vast natural area leased and managed for many years by Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) amid controversy over a recently mowed field.
It has been a year and a half since a 33-year-old man disappeared in Winnipeg. Police now believe he was a victim of foul play and say someone out there knows something.
New sub-variants of COVID-19 are in Manitoba, with scientists watching trends warning the mutated version of the Omicron variant called BA.5 is highly transmissible.
As police try to track down the man believed to have paved a Puslinch woman’s driveway without her permission, another person has come forward claiming to be the victim of a similar alleged fraud.
A string of serious collisions over the last few days has Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) sending a heightened warning to drivers to not let their guards down during the summer months.
There were no ambulances available to respond to emergencies in Guelph for a short period on Monday, as paramedics waited outside the hospital to offload patients.
Benjamin Dufour, the seven-year-old boy who was gravely injured after being hit by a truck in Regina last month, has shown positive signs of recovery, according to a news release from his family.
Environment Canada has issued a tornado warning for the R.M. of Kindersley including Kindersley Brock and Flaxcombe, and the R.M. of Oakdale including Coleville.
Since 1996, Carla Alexiuk has been increasing the quilting population in northern Ontario by providing workshops, knowledge and her passion for the hobby.
HMCS Chicoutimi at CFB Esquimalt after returning home from deployment in 2018. (CTV News)
