This article appeared in the Jan. 6, 2011 issue of the Interlake Spectator…
Linda Bradley, one of the brains behind “Earthly Basics Eco-Village Cooperative”, along with long-time friend Berty Jones, envisions a sustainable living co-operative outside Gimli that will provide affordable housing to low income earners.
The pair has thought through this concept well, bringing a sound realism to the vision, but more conservative folk will be challenged to think outside the box and envision an alternative to the usual lifestyle on the family farm, or in an apartment complex in town.
It is an established fact that a lack of affordable housing is one of the most pressing problems faced in the Gimli area today. Without affordable housing, younger people find it necessary to move away and new people of working age and average income will not find it easy to put down roots here.
“We have a friend who is older who has lived here most of her life. She’s planning to move to Winnipeg. Even she can’t afford to live here anymore,” said Bradley, who has taken the time to analyze the cost of rent for accommodations in Gimli.
Bradley has scrolled advertisements that ran in the Interlake Spectator over a period of years. In 2006 the median rent in Gimli was $535, plus utilities. More recently rent has risen to $750 per month, plus utilities, with the lowest available rent listed at $535.
“If you’re trying to rent a place in Gimli, you’d better have a lot of money,” said Bradley, “Along with the rapid rise in the cost of food, [which has been increasing by about 30 per cent each year since 2008, according to media sources] many people are barely affording to live right now.”
“Gimli is only promoting itself as a retirement community, offering a lifestyle that isn’t affordable by most people. It seems the only things being built are expensive homes. The foundation of Gimli is minimum wage and seasonal work,” she added.
Bradley believes that in order for people to work at minimum wage jobs plus have a healthy lifestyle, they need to be able to depend on a secure source of food as well as housing, and need to have control over it. The eco-village co-op addresses this too.
The goal is to build 30 small houses (15 to start), ranging in size from 420 sq. ft. for a one bedroom, to 740 sq. ft. for a three bedroom, they would be putting in sweat equity with the help of the community, similar to work done by “Habitat for Humanity”. One of the churches in Gimli has already volunteered to help build one of the houses.
The co-op already has 12 members. Bradley and Jones hopes more people will want to be involved, if not for their own benefit, then for the benefit of their children or aging parents.
“We are not building estates for people. These are small units that would start at about $300 per month,” said Bradley, who added that a down payment would not be required as a 10 –year mortgage would be taken out by the co-op.
Not only would the project offer affordable housing for “the underpaid and financially distressed”, as stated in their brochure, they are proposing to build a whole eco-village with common buildings that could provide communal meals, laundry facilities, space for shared tools and equipment, a visitor centre, and general gathering space for teaching, learning, and childcare. Co-op members would be required to put in 14 hours of volunteer time per week, performing any number of duties in keeping with their level of ability, whether it be physical labor in gardens, or helping to can food, or watch over children. Bradley wants to see old skills being reclaimed.
An outdoor perma-culture garden, a managed woodlot where Poplar trees would be grown and harvested to meet some of the village’s heating needs, and eventually a greenhouse , are also a big part of the vision. “We are hoping to eventually extend the garden so that we could provide the whole town of Gimli with organically grown produce. This could be a potential source of income for the co-op,” said Bradley, who also sees the potential for raising goats and chickens.
The co-op plans to access a Manitoba Housing program to cover the cost of materials and preparation of the site. At the end of January, Bradley and Jones will be making a presentation to the Gimli Council, explaining their project and requesting a donation of a 160 acre site of an old gravel pit located North West of Gimli on which to build the eco-village. Shortly thereafter, a public information meeting will take place, with the date and time to be announced in the Spectator.
“The land is just sitting there. It hasn’t been used in years. If we built there, the RM would eventually be collecting property taxes from us,” Bradley said.
The pair believes they have a good shot at convincing council to donate the land, “because it’s going to be a good thing for the RM of Gimli, pointing to some of the economic spin-offs that the project would generate in terms of gaining tax revenues once homes are built, as well spawning an eco-tourism industry, as the co-op plans to offer tours, retreats and an eco-fest. “They could say we have an environmentally aware community. Gimli could be another one of the world’s ‘transition towns’ (a community moving in the direction of sustainable living).”
“If the RM won’t donate the land, we will be seeking out other donors. Basically we need the land to move ahead,” said Bradley.
