Thursday - April 4, 2024 - Funding denied for Mission affordable housing

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Good morning!

On Monday I told you all about a practical joke I played when I was younger, but I somehow forgot about my best-ever April Fool’s joke, which I pulled off two years ago.

I came up with it at 5am on April 1 (prime time for April Fools’ day pranks) sitting on my borrowed couch in my campus apartment. At my university that year there had been several complaints from male students that the girls had a special, women-only leadership and business club that held networking brunches and talks from local leaders. They wanted their own version.

So I made one for them. These days, clubs on college campuses often start up on social media: they advertise what they’re planning to do and try to gain an online following that will, eventually, lead to in-person events. I made social media pages for my shiny new boys-only leadership club—with a twist.

Instead of events focused on mentorship connections or finance skills, my page advertised cooking classes, childcare courses, a workshop on how to properly clean a toilet, and other skills usually reserved for women in traditional families. All the girls I revealed the joke to thought it was hilarious. The guys did not find it that funny.

– Grace

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

Victoria denies funding for Mission tower built for low-income residents

The 92 brand new apartments in Mission’s tallest building were never intended to be rented out for top dollar. They were designed to be affordable homes for seniors, families, and singles struggling to make ends meet in an increasingly challenging housing market.

But with construction on the new tower expected to wrap up in just a couple months, a recent decision from BC Housing to deny a funding application may leave many of the apartments either sitting empty or being rented for whatever the market will bear. 

The building is almost exactly what BC’s housing minister has been encouraging: a multi-family housing project aimed at seniors, families, and workers near transit hubs and local amenities. And BC Housing said the funding application to subsidize the below-market rents was “strong” and the project “worthwhile.” The province denied the request anyways, saying it didn't have enough money to fund all the worthy proposals it received.

Mission’s council voiced outrage at the decision Tuesday, with Councillor Mark Davies calling the decision “asinine.” 

“The federal and provincial governments are throwing billions of dollars into housing projects and this one is sitting here waiting for them to simply take the keys,” he said.

His colleagues agreed, vowing to pressure Victoria to fund the building.

“It’s not very often it’s this obvious, but this one is,” Mayor Paul Horn said.

• Today, Tyler writes about Mission’s tallest building and the fate of its 92 apartments.

Related

Need to Know

👉️ A former Chilliwack NDP MLA will run for a seat with the BC Conservatives in Nanaimo [Fraser Valley Today]

🗳 Abbotsford Coun. Dave Sidhu is running for BC United in Mike de Jong’s old riding [Voice Online]

🐟️ A KPU scientist won an award for her fisheries research [Langley Advance Times]

🛻 A small crowd turned out to protest the rising carbon tax in Hope on Monday [Hope Standard]

👉️ Abbotsford is asking for the public to weigh in on plans for a new Highstreet transit exchange [Abbotsford news]

🏊‍♀️ Langley Township residents will get first dibs on swimming lessons in municipal facilities [Langley Advance Times]

☎️ Premier David Eby is attending a virtual town hall meeting with Mission residents [Mission Record]

🛩️ The Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley held a celebration for the 100th anniversary of the RCAF [Langley Advance Times]

🏀 A blind basketball coach at Langley Secondary shared some of the lessons he’s learned since losing his sight three years ago [Abbotsford News]; An elderly Chilliwack artist who is losing her sight is hosting an art show this weekend [Chilliwack Progress]

🥙 Two new restaurants—one serving Greek fast food, the other burgers—are planned for Chilliwack’s Cottonwood Centre [Chilliwack Progress]

👮‍♀️ A man was arrested in Mission after drawing a knife and barricading himself in a room to avoid police [Mission Record]

📷️ CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Bonnie Oliver, who was the first to correctly identify the location of yesterday’s Current Cam photo as the Atchelitz Thresherman's Museum in Chilliwack.

SPONSORED BY THEATRE IN THE COUNTRY

AMADEUS: A musical genius who thrives on chaos

Tour-de-force performances in Langley! Audiences get a wonderful glimpse into this unique world of music creation, as a legendary rivalry explores the spectacular rise and early death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This is a theatrical experience that must not be missed. Dinner Theatre or Theatre Only. Runs from April 10 - 27.

The Agenda

Snowpack remains well below normal

Another dry couple of weeks have again left BC’s snowpack near an all-time low.

As of April 1, average snowpacks were 67% of normal. 

Provincial snowpacks have been consistently well below average all winter. A wet end to February and start to March had bolstered hopes that the weather would push conditions back toward normal, but recent weather has seen a lack of new snow at a time when the mountains need it most.

Much will now depend both on new snow, and temperature levels. April often sees the provincial snowpack plateau at its deepest level, with some new snow balancing out any melting that occurs. Significant melting generally does not usually start until May 1—or sometimes later. A cool spring with little snowmelt could alleviate some of the current drought worries. On the other hand, warm and dry temperatures in April could leave rivers in a dire state later this summer. 

Current weather forecasts suggest another dry, but not overly warm period, over the next two weeks.

🗓 Things to do this week/end

✒️ Indigenous Storytellers: Lheidli T’enneh singer-songwriter Kym Gouchie and her trio of storytelling musicians will play at the Bez Arts Hub in Langley on Friday, April 5. Tickets online.

🎺 Blues tunes: Tom Lavin and the Legendary Powder Blues will perform at the Clarke Theatre in Mission on Friday, April 5. Details online.

🏒 Hockey playoffs: The Chilliwack Chiefs and the Langley Rivermen are squaring off in the first round of the BCHL playoffs. The first two games are Friday and Saturday in Chilliwack. Tickets online.

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Catch up

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