SURREY: Matt Ilich and his business partner Sasha Faris at First Track Investment are calling on fellow real estate developers to join a new program on housing.
The program is arranging short-term housing for Ukrainian families arriving in the Lower Mainland under the Canadian-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program by utilizing unoccupied houses sitting on properties awaiting redevelopment. The program gives them somewhere to live until they can find their feet.
“Operation Welcome Home” – with the emphasis on “home” – began late last year in Vancouver and has expanded to Richmond, and now Surrey.
The program matches arriving families from Ukraine with local, vacated homes that developers have bought for eventual tear down. Thousands of homes are purchased and demolished annually for new development in the Lower Mainland. They often sit empty for months but remain in liveable condition until replacement developments are ready to start. Opening the doors short-term and letting these displaced families live in those homes temporarily is most often preferable to living in a hotel room for weeks on end after arriving.
To date, 13 families have been accommodated. The developers do not charge anything to provide the homes.
“We’re looking forward to expanding this to Surrey and make use of some of the homes slated for removal,” Ilich said. “Some of them aren’t even that old, they’re just waiting to be demolished in several months or a year to make way for new developments as Surrey grows. A lot of developers are in the same situation as us, with an inventory of homes just sitting empty that could help these people.”
“Operation Welcome Home” is operated with placement assistance and wraparound services from the social services agency S.U.C.C.E.S.S. (the United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society) and rennie foundation, and Maple Hope Foundation, which helps families seeking refuge here from the conflict in Ukraine.
“We’re excited to be among the first to provide families with a temporary home in Surrey. Having a proper ‘landing pad’ with a solid local address puts them in a better position to find work and get their new lives in order,” says Nathan Hildebrand, vice president of Qualico which is planning to offer some vacant properties in south Surrey for “Operation Welcome Home”. “With the stress of escaping the war and moving to a strange new land, a home environment helps them cope better than being in a hotel. We’re able to provide a perfectly liveable place for a few weeks or months, until they ultimately decide to stay in the Lower Mainland or move elsewhere in Canada.”
“With leadership from S.U.C.C.E.S.S. we are now able to provide housing as part of a continuum of services that ensure those arriving are given what they need to establish themselves here,” said Queenie Choo, CEO of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Foundation. “This may include finding employment, integrating children into schools and the community and eventually helping to secure more permanent housing.”
“It’s a great idea which has been welcomed by the City of Surrey,” said Surrey city councillor Linda Annis. “The city has approved the use of these residentially zoned homes for temporary occupation as city-designated ‘care facilities’ capable of housing up to 10 people. Surrey is one of the region’s most culturally diverse cities, and we welcome these families from Ukraine. We hope they might eventually decide to find a new, permanent home here once they get settled.”
“We want to emphasize the empty homes being used by “Operation Welcome Home” are not derelict or run down,” Ilich added. “The developers organize whatever minor repairs or new appliances might be needed to make them liveable for a while longer. If a family stays a month or two, and then successfully moves on to start a new life in Canada, we know we’ve done our part in helping them. The opportunity to help is right in front of us – we just connect the dots to make it happen.”
Developers with vacant properties, especially in Surrey, interested in learning more about “Operation Welcome Home” can contact Matt Ilich at [email protected].
