Trust Council Housing Strategic Action Plan

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Islands Trust Housing Strategic Action Plan, September 2025   1 
 
The Islands Trust Area is located within Coast Salish Territory, in the treaty lands and territories of 27 
First Nations. The Islands Trust is committed to working towards building strong relationships and 
foundations for collaborative governance with Indigenous governing bodies.   
 
The Islands Trust has a mandate to preserve and protect the Trust Area and its unique amenities and 
environment for the benefit of the residents of the Trust Area and of British Columbia in cooperation 
with municipalities, regional districts, improvement districts, First Nations, other persons and 
organizations and the government of British Columbia.  The Islands Trust preserves and protects the 
islands in the context of many complex challenges including: climate change, lack of affordable housing, 
freshwater limitations, many species at risk, development and tourism pressures. 
 
The Islands Trust Policy Statement
1
 identifies goals and policies that guide the work of the Islands Trust. 
Specifically, it guides the development of official community plans (OCPs) and regulatory bylaws by local 
trust committees (LTCs) and island municipalities and provides specific directives to all LTCs and island 
municipalities in support of affordable housing policy goals.   
  
Availability of affordable, appropriate, and adequate housing for all individuals and families is an 
important part of healthy communities in the Trust Area. Many communities in the Trust Area are 
experiencing a shortage of safe, secure, and affordable housing. More and more often, island workers 
are needing to commute from off-island locations, seniors are finding it challenging to age in place, and 
many people do not have secure housing.  The Islands Trust Council has declared that a housing equity 
and workforce shortage crisis exists on many of the islands within the Islands Trust Area. Strengthening 
housing affordability is an Islands Trust Council priority.   
 
While Islands Trust and local trust committees cannot tackle these issues alone, local trust committees 
can regulate use and density, ensuring new housing is located in appropriate locations, can regulate 
short-term rentals, and can coordinate with other levels of government to foster safe, secure, and 
affordable housing.  Meeting the diverse housing needs of Trust Area communities requires an 
integrated and collaborative approach with communities, First Nations, federal, provincial, and regional 
governments, and non-governmental organizations.  
 
In the spring of 2019, the Province introduced legislation requiring local governments, including LTCs, to 
prepare housing needs reports to better understand current and future housing needs in their 
communities.  Local governments and LTCs must consider their most recent housing needs report when 
developing or amending an OCP.  More recently, the Province has begun introducing new housing 
legislation to addre

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