April, 2020 – SSICS approached the Sea Breeze Inne owner to provide rooms on a monthly basis to help with the sudden sheltering challenges arising from COVID. The number increased as tourist stays decreased. SSI Housing First team directed people to Seabreeze and in most cases provided a rent supplement to help with high cost of monthly rent. Other people make their own arrangements with the owner for monthly rentals. Some of them circle back to SSICS for rent supplements.
June, 2020 – SSICS approached BC Housing to assist with this strategy. BC Housing agreed to pay Seabreeze directly for rent of 6 rooms, increasing to 8. BC Housing provided extra funding to SSICS to provide “in-reach” support as needed for residents.
July, 2020- Seabreeze continued to operate as a commercial motel with a declining customer count, so the number of monthly rooms climbed to 20 of the 28 rooms. BC Housing continued to fund 8 rooms and SSICS in-reach support.
July, 2021 – Sea Breeze owner Bob Ma accepted a transferable offer from SSICS to purchase the Seabreeze Inne subject to finance that would expire in October, 2021. SSICS performed some due diligence exploration of the property and presented the potential purchase to BC Housing for consideration while also exploring alternate funding.
October, 2021 – That offer expired without the subjects being removed as BC Housing would not agree to purchase, and other financing opportunity did not come through.
October, 2021 – The Lady Minto Foundation made an offer which was accepted to close Dec, 2021.
December, 2021 – The subjects were not removed and the possession date was extended in December, 2021 to March, 2022.
March, 2022 – The deal closed and possession was taken in March. LMHF signed a lease with BC Housing for 3 months to June 30, 2022 with an option to renew. SSICS is asked by BC Housing to provide daily operations management on their behalf. At that time BC Housing committed to having the Drake Road supportive housing development completed by June 30. That project ran into delays and no work on the ground at the Drake Road site was achieved in the following months.
June 15, 2022 – Lady Minto Foundation communicated that they would not be renewing the lease and that they expected a vacant building by June 30th.
June 30, 2022 – at 5:05 PM, BC Housing issued a press release stating that they had entered into a lease with the Gulf Islands Seniors Residents Association (GISRA) for their Kings Lane property, and extended the Seabreeze Inne lease with Lady Minto Foundation until July 15th at which time residents would be moved to temporary housing on Kings Lane.
July 15, 2022 – The Kings Lane housing was not ready for occupation and Seabreeze Inne residents had begun to investigate their rights in the situation and filed for a resolution with the Residential Tenancy Branch to determine if their tenancy was covered by the Act. A Hearing is set for December, 2022.
August, 2022 – Lady Minto Foundation and BC Housing enter into a day-to-day arrangement for BC Housing to continue to operate and manage Sea Breeze Inne.
September, 2022 – BC Housing informs the residents that the lease has expired. SSICS is no longer providing onsite management.
