Eleven came to this ASK Salt Spring conversation to welcome the Lookout Housing and Health Society (https://lookoutsociety.ca/) Team, Lee Fox, Director of Vancouver Island Operations and Corey Burtini, Manager of both Drake and Dean Road housing facilities. After our Land Acknowledgement and an opportunity for each of us to introduce ourselves, Lee and Corey began by telling us what “excited and delighted” them. 

Lee, a member of the Lookout team for over 15 years, began by telling us that she was gleefully anticipating the arrival of spring, looking forward to grounding herself in her garden, riding her motorcycle, and enjoying longer days. She is also delighted that both Drake Road and Dean Road are full and functioning well. 

Corey is delighted to be a new member of the Lookout Team. She had been the Umbrella Society (https://www.umbrellasociety.ca/) manager for the temporary housing on Kings Lane while the Drake Road homes were being built. Loving her work with Umbrella, new to this scale of housing, she is savouring the extensive resources and support offered by Lookout, a seasoned organization with more than 1,600 employees and 100 sites, housing and supporting those with the most need for over half a century. 

We began our conversation by learning more about the recently-opened Drake Road supportive housing facility When the Lookout Team had last joined us on October 2, 2025, Drake Road was nearing completion. A lot has happened in six months, and Drake Road is now nearly fully occupied with folks living in 31 of its 32 supportive units. (The last unoccupied two-bedroom unit will soon be filled.) 

When participants asked what it costs BC Housing to operate Drake Road, Lee and Corey did not have the numbers with them, but, according to a recent news article ((https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2025HMA0095-001009): 

• The Province, through BC Housing, provided grants of almost $15 million and will provide approximately $1.3 million in annual operating funding for the supportive housing. 
• The federal government provided $1.6 million through the Affordable Housing Fund. 
• The Capital Regional District provided the land on a long-term lease for a nominal fee.
• Residents pay the BC Housing rental rate which is covered by their BC income allocation. 

This Drake Road supportive housing has two two-bedroom suits, something Lee has never before seen offered in BC Housing projects. It was decided not to offer these multi-bedroom units to couples in fear of a breakup which could leave one partner homeless. Instead, couples are given two separate units they can use as they wish, some possibly even opting to use one unit for storage and the other for living together. One of these two two-bedroom units has already been rented to a parent with an adult child, and it is working well. (No underage children are allowed to live in Drake Road residences.) Lee and Corey are confident that the second two-bedroom unit will also soon also be occupied. 

Our Drake Road facility also has four affordable housing units separate from the supportive housing and not served by staff nor able to access the main supportive housing building. With separate entrances, these units, while on the same property, are treated as separate, stand alone homes. Needless to say given our need for affordable rentals, these units were very popular and rented almost immediately as soon as their availability was announced.   

The occupation of Drake Road was strategically staged so that all residents did not move in at the same time. First to move in were a group of more than 15 who had been together through many moves in the past few years. Some had begun sheltering together in the temporary Warming Space erected – and soon forced to move multiple times – in our parks during COVID. From there, many of these cohorts had moved to SeaBreeze Inne, the current location of Lady Minto Foundations’s Heartwood Home (https://ladymintofoundation.com/projects/bittancourt-staff-housing/). From there, many moved to the Kings Lane temporary housing while the Drake Road units were being built. 

Moving from Kings Lane 10’x10’ foot rooms with shared kitchen and bathrooms in old portables into the bright, new rooms at Drake Road after many years of housing uncertainty has been a joyful event for many. With large rooms, an elevator, community spaces, secure housing, and helpful 24/7 staff, these facilities are the nicest Lee has seen in her 15 years of experience managing similar support facilities. 

It was important to Lookout staff that residents of all 32 units did not move in at the same time, increasing the chaos accompanying all moves by the interpersonal challenges of introducing new residents to the established group who had lived together for some years. Slowly, new residents were selected by a BC Housing-chaired committee charged with listening to recommendations from our local housing providers and deciding who would most benefit from the Drake Road supportive housing. Residents of Drake Road are selected using a variety of criteria, with Salt Spring residency an important one of these many criteria. Another important consideration is the maintenance of a balance of about 1/3 who are the most in need of support, 1/3 with fewer support needs, and 1/3 who are almost able to manage themselves. Keeping this balance of need is critically important for the effective functioning of the Lookout model.    

A key element of the Drake Road housing is the support offered. While hopes are to expand, this support already includes goal planning activities, 24/7 support, a cook, on-site maintenance worker, and a variety of activities that include art classes, chess, music events, sewing classes, and, due to a partnership with Brain on Wheels (https://www.brainonwheels.org/), regular fun activities to help retain and expand brain functions. It is also hoped that a garden can be established this season, offering outdoor exercise as well as that pride of production.

Additional support includes access to counseling and addiction support and help dealing with the logistics of life like filling out forms, applying for benefits, and all those pesky details of our technology-driven world. Getting folks where they need to be is a challenge. Residents who need a ride to the ferry for a medical appointment can often be driven to the ferry as walk ons and met by a Lookout van at Croften or Victoria. Even residents with pets needing heavy food and litter can often be driven from Ganges. Many of these driving services are done by Corey in their recently-donated (by a Salt Springer) electric vehicle – with a just barely enough forty kilometre range – as another of her many responsibilities on top of her already busy days.

We learned that Lookout has a van – but no one to drive it. An opportunity to volunteer? Yes! Please contact (https://lookoutsociety.ca/get-involved/volunteer/) to volunteer at Drake Road doing some of the many tasks needed like driving, helping with activities, playing games, storytelling, or. . . .?

Want to help, Salt Spring? This may be your perfect opportunity!   

The Lookout Team receives a great deal of training to guide residents toward enhanced life skills including courses to support trauma, grief, and loss. Despite the key role played by staff, residents also have their role to play: All are members of a tenant committee which will soon be convening to discuss and agree upon rules for living together as a community. Part of Lookout’s housing strategy, this collaborative, resident-driven decision making (rather than top down directives) is an important component of the Drake Road community. Residents are already suggesting altered behaviours to other residents. Corey noted that these suggestions are sometimes welcomed; at other times ignored, prompting one resident to comment that giving these suggestions and being ignored was teaching him patience :). 

Drake Road has, and will continue to experience hiccups as residents settle and activities expand. Despite these hiccups, participants at this ASK Salt Spring gathering expressed pleasure that the Lookout team is at the helm. Any unique Salt Spring challenges? While now solved, staffing was initially an issue. In other communities, Lookout facilities share casual workers. Given ferry schedules, a Lookout worker from Duncan cannot work at Drake Road for a full shift and get home that night. Also, Lee mentioned her surprise at the unexpectedly high unmet need for housing on Salt Spring. She hopes to find the funding to hire an outreach worker who can support some of those others in need. Stay tuned. . . .   

Dean Road, formerly part of the Land Bank which had also owned the Bracket Springs property on Rainbow Road and Grandma’s House,is a markedly-different Lookout housing opportunity.Nearly fully-occupied, it offers rooms for eight residents, lodging for the person in charge, a shared kitchen (no in-room cooking allowed) and six bathrooms. Determined to maintain affordability, Lookout subsidizes Dean Road to be able to offer monthly rent at $720 for smaller bedrooms and $800 for larger ones. 

Respect for one another is essential with no overnight guests and pets only with the approval of other residents. Needless to say, sharing space brings its own unique challenges. Families experience it repeatedly. Just imagine the complications that arise with relative strangers sharing space!

In addition to the interpersonal challenges, the Dean Road house, though lovely, is 100 years old, bringing its unique set of challenges. Used as a rooming house for many years for as many as 14 residents, Lookout needed to do extensive renovations before accepting residents, including replacing the septic system and working with CRD Buildings Inspections to complete needed renovations. Required to get a three-year Temporary Use Permit from the Islands Trust, plans are to address Islands Trust requirements during these three years to obtain permanent permission. 

As our time together drew to a close, and leaving some time for a participant to get her 

specific and detailed questions about operating costs and tenant agreements answered, 

we bid a grateful “Farewell” to the hardworking Lookout Team, pleased that 

they have taken such an important role in our Salt Spring affordable housing options. 

Clear that their roles are fraught with challenges, we expressed appreciation for their

hard work, tenaciousness in the face of challenges, and clear love of their jobs, as 

evidenced by the twinkle in their eyes as they spoke of the amazing opportunities 

offered by Drake and Dean Road housing. (Thank-you Lee and Corey!) 

Just in case you are interested. . . .This report has been written by Gayle Baker, founder of ASK Salt Spring, currently also a Salt Spring Local Community Commissioner. It has been reviewed by Lee and Corey.