'On The Brink' of success, Cortes Housing Changes Leadership

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - After five years at the helm of the Cortes Community Housing Society, Sandra Wood has stepped down. She continues to be involved with the society as a grant writer, a service which she has provided Cortes Island for more than a decade.

"The exciting news is We have a wonderful replacement who's going to be stepping in to take over the leadership of the housing society and that person is Sadhu Johnston. I couldn't have found a better qualified person than Sadhu on Cortes Island.  I'd really like Sadhu to speak to some of his past experience and credentials," she said.  

"He has a long history working with BC Housing in the city of Vancouver to bring Affordable housing to the table and because of that, he's got contacts. He's got a lot of financial savvy and creative ideas. He also has a lot more experience in policy and politics than I have. So I think he's the right man for the time that we're in now. I also believe that beyond building the next 24 townhomes in Rainbow Ridge, there's a legacy of another 45 acres, the remainder of Rainbow Ridge, which is a fantastic opportunity for Sadhu to look at other creative housing models, other solutions for this community that I haven't had time to look at."

Sadhu Johnston: "Thanks Sandra, those were very nice things to say about me. The first thing I would say is how grateful we all should be to Sandra for her Incredible commitment and the accomplishments that she's achieved supporting this work on Cortes. It's really amazing that we have 50 acres downtown and a strong organization. It's just a real testament to your leadership and your can-do attitude. So, very excited to be picking up and taking the reins from Sandra and really appreciate the opportunity to be able to focus on housing in my own community."  

"For me, Cortes is home and it will be for the rest of my life.  Hopefully my kids will be able to live here in the future. I feel like the Cortes that many of us love is at risk.  That diversity of community and the range of people that call Cortes home  is threatened by the challenges that we're facing for supporting housing and people's various housing needs on this island. So  I'm really grateful to be able to pick up where Sandra is leaving off and work on housing here on Cortes  and to hopefully get Rainbow Ridge phase 1  fully funded and built.”

“Sandra has agreed to stay on in a fundraising support capacity. So we'll be working together throughout November on getting the BC Housing grant and hopefully on other fundraising endeavours in the months and years to come. She's not leaving or sailing off into the sunset."

Sandra Wood: "For me, the fun has always been in the fundraising and the grant writing.  I feel like I'm completing that in November, and I'm ready to hand it off to you, hopefully to start the construction next year in 2024."       
Sadhu Johnston provided a glimpse into his previous experiences as Chief Environmental Officer of Chicago (2005-2009), Deputy City Manager (2009-16) and then City Manager of Vancouver (2016-21). 


"I'm thrilled to be able to work in my own community. Much of my work since leaving government is elsewhere. I've served on lots of boards on Cortes as my way to contribute here, but the idea that I could be a halftime focused on housing in a community that I love is really thrilling to me and that I'd be able to contribute some of the experience from elsewhere to support the housing needs on Cortes is, is something I'm really looking forward to."