by Kerry Gold
The Globe and Mail, Mar 25, 2016
(Image: Houses from Oak Bay, B.C., are shipped by barge to San Juan Island, Washington. Photo: Nancy DeVaux)
As the Victoria-area housing market heats up, their small-character houses are coming down due to the demand for bigger, newer houses. Developers and incoming buyers, flush with money, are targeting the historic municipality of Oak Bay, which has not protected its homes as rigorously as adjacent Victoria has protected much of its original housing stock.
Our old houses, considered rubbish to many, have become American treasure.
But an American community is turning the old houses into part of the solution to their affordability problem. A group in San Juan Island, Wash., has purchased seven Oak Bay houses and once they’ve raised enough funds, they are planning to purchase five more. Read more…