By Coun. Sharon Cross

The challenge:

Cranbrook has a growing number of working poor who can barely make ends meet, or feed and house their families.  This impacts our health system when the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual stress starts to negatively affect people’s lives.  What is the ethical and moral responsibility of a community to deal with these issues?  What is the city’s responsibility?

How we started:

In January 2009, the City of Cranbrook established the Family and Community Services Committee, which is a select committee of council established under the Community Charter.  It advises council on issues of importance to seniors, youth, homeless people, and physically challenged.  The objective of the committee is to provide information and insight on creating a livable, diverse and inclusive community.

What’s been achieved:

Over the past three years the Committee has had presentations from the Cranbrook Food Action Committee, Cranbrook Connected, the Social Planning Society (Living Wage/Quality of Life Challenge), the Kootenay Child Health & Development Centre, the Neighbourhood Learning Centre committee (new Mt. Baker School), Service Canada, the Community Settlement Worker, Community Garden Gleaning Initiatives, the Salvation Army Homeless Shelter Project, Social Determinants of Health (Interior Health), and received many letters from the public related to Family and Community Services and social issues concerning residents.

One of the committee highlights was a recommendation to council to approve the Leisure Access Pass. The idea for the Leisure Access Pass was brought forward by a Cranbrook resident (Amy Moore), which lead to a council resolution to support the Leisure Access Pass in February, 2010. This program enables low-income residents to access public swims at a reduced cost.

What’s next?

The latest and largest idea that the Committee is working on, is supporting a Habitat for Humanity project(s) in Cranbrook.  To help accomplish this, the Committee is looking to establish a ReStore in Cranbrook to help raise dollars and construction supplies.  Shopping at a ReStore is a socially and environmentally conscious decision, as much of what is sold is new product, or gently used or customer returns that would otherwise end up in a landfill.  Sales help to fund Habitat for Humanity projects.

The challenge is to build an extreme weather resilient and energy efficient structure for a needy family(ies).  Examples of this already exist in Habitat for Humanity.  In the 2011 Solar Decathlon, and for the first time in the design-build contest’s history, the sustainably built prefab homes were judged in the category of affordability with a top cost of $250,000 to build — and guess what? Not one, but two teams achieved full points! The Empowerhouse built by students from Parsons the New School for Design (New York), and the Stevens Institute of Technology took first place in the category, with a final cost of $229,000. Empowerhouse will actually be a Habitat for Humanity home for Washington, D.C.  Learn more at this link:  http://inhabitat.com/empowerhouse-takes-first-place-in-affordability-at-the-2011-solar-decathlon/

The way we have been building our homes, our neighbourhoods and our cities needs to shift in order to adapt to a changing climate and extreme weather conditions that are adversely impacting current city infrastructure and that we can no longer afford to maintain.  We believe that Cranbrook is up for this challenge, which can be a showcase for our community and those involved in the building of it. The committee is also looking for an appropriate house location.

Are you in?

Cranbrook residents have always been moved to action for causes that are worthy, and help support others.  If you want to get on board with the Habitat for Humanity Project or the ReStore Centre please contact Sharon Cross, City Councillor, at 250-489-4412.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the City of Cranbrook.

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