Affordable Home Ownership Expert Coming to Kelowna

  The BC Rural Centre invites you to a free public lecture featuring Lisa Byers, Executive Director of the OPAL (“Of People And Land”) Community Land Trust on Orcas Island, Washington State.  Lisa will discuss how the OPAL CLT has created over 130 affordable housing units on Orcas Island over the past 25 years.  Creating Affordable…

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Affordable Housing in Rural Communities

Affordable housing is a pressing issue in many small rural communities, this webinar features Lisa Byers, Executive Director of OPAL (“Of People And Land”) Community Land Trust on Washing State’s Orcas Island. Providing affordable housing that’s place-appropriate is the real challenge facing many rural and remote communities across North America. There are different approaches that…

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Affordable Rural Housing: OPAL’s April’s Grove, San Juan Islands

Affordable rural housing — providing it is a challenge across North America. An organization located just south of BC’s Gulf Islands has shown it’s a challenge that can be met. From a small group of idealistic volunteers with a vision of sustaining a healthy community on Washington State’s Orcas Island (pop. 4,500), OPAL (‘Of People…

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Affordable Rural Housing & Community Land Trusts

  Affordable rural housing is an issue in many small, remote communities. Community Land Trusts can be an effective approach to tackling this challenge, providing affordable, appropriate housing for rural residents unable to crack the commercial housing market. Brenda Torpy, CEO of the Champlain (Vermont) Housing Trust, discusses her approach to stewarding land for the…

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Province Partners with CBT for New Affordable Housing

People struggling to find an affordable place to live in the Columbia Basin region will have access to new rental housing, thanks to a partnership announced between the BC government and Columbia Basin Trust (CBT), part of the government’s larger, province-wide goal of creating  114,000 new units of affordable market rental, non-profit, co-op, supported social…

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Affordable Rural Housing — the View from Yorkshire, UK

Affordable rural housing is often at a premium in small communities and rural regions. While rural housing prices may appear a bargain to newcomers and second home buyers from overheated urban real estate markets, they are often anything but for long-time residents, often saddled with relatively low-paying jobs. In this video produced by by the North…

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