These friends are building a community on the Sunshine Coast. Here’s where they’re at:
Last year, Vancity documented the journey of a group of 10 friends looking to turn a four-acre plot on the Sunshine Coast into a 10-plot subdivision in the hit web series “Building Together.”
Showcasing the resilient community story of friends redefining what homeownership could look like, the series was a peek into a more affordable living model — and its particular challenges.
Luckily, the group had a great partner in Vancity, a financial co-operative and Canada’s largest credit union. Vancity was able to work with the group to offer a Mixer Mortgage tailored to their unique situation.
After having started this project back in 2017, and sitting with the success of the series, Vancity brought this group back together to chat with Vancity Ambassador and Urban Planning Videographer Uytae Lee. Together, they dove into more details about the partnership, the group’s progress in this ambitious project, and how Vancity is continuing to support them along the way.
Engaging with new fans
Now branded as the “co-ownership influencers,” the group has received nothing but positive feedback from this community project.
Hearing from co-workers, old friends, and even international folks as far as Sweden and Australia, “Building Together” had a wide reach. The group was thrilled with the response, as it helped explain and promote their story while inspiring people to tackle affordable housing through a community-based approach.
“[There was definitely] an appetite to learn more about this project, and to find ways to stay connected to community as we age,” expresses group member Coleen O’Toole.
Making their co-ownership work
The appetite for this project only made people more curious about its details. One of the most common questions was what this co-ownership model looked like, and how they were able to sort through all the moving parts.
From Episode 1, we know that this friend group met through their love of engineering, and the unaffordable housing market in Vancouver forced some tough conversations about how this community was going to stay together.
Before making that first step to purchase the property, the group hashed out a list of questions their lawyers had sent over to form a joint venture agreement.
Between questions about what happens if a group member leaves, to how the group makes voting decisions, fans who were looking for more details on the particulars of their arrangement will be satisfied — but I’m not going to get into too many spoilers here. (You’ll have to watch the reunion episode for that!)
Finding the right financial partner
Joking about how they were initially laughed out of the room at most financial institutions they approached, the group reiterates just how frustrating it was to secure a mortgage for this project.
Luckily, when they approached Vancity, the attitude was, to quote O’Toole, “I’m not sure that we’ve done this before, but that’s not a good enough reason not to try and figure this out.”
That’s because Vancity was able to adapt an already existing model, the Vancity Mixer Mortgage, to suit this group’s needs. This flexible type of joint mortgage allows you to share the costs of home ownership with other people while choosing the mortgage rate, term, and amortization that works best for each individual person.
Vancity recognized that because of the financial pooling and buying power that 10 people have, this was actually relatively low risk for them to take on — as each group member is responsible for the full amount of the mortgage.
What happened with rezoning?
The end of episode three left us on a real cliffhanger, as the group was in the middle of getting their application to rezone their property so they could build what they wanted to.
Working with the municipal government and the local community, they actually created a new zoning type and are still undergoing the subdividing of the property — which includes making sure their plans don’t interfere with the existing topography of the land, managing their waste on-site, and more.
The future of this Sunshine Coast community
There’s still more going on with this sizeable project, but the group has received the preliminary layout review from different regulatory agencies — which is essentially a checklist of what needs to be done before getting final approval on their subdivision and being able to start construction.
While this has been an ongoing six-year project, this group proves that this model of home ownership is possible, not only on the Sunshine Coast, but also in Vancouver itself — as they’ve heard similar stories of co-ownership happening in the city.
If you’re looking to start something similar with a big or small group of friends, but are unfamiliar with the details, Vancity has your back.
They’re a great partner to help you hash out the specifics of your co-ownership arrangement while remaining a savvy financial guide to navigate you through the process. They even help put your money towards building affordable housing at the same time!
Branded Content
Follow Channels and Categories