For 17 years, the Victoria Foundation has conducted the Vital Signs Citizen Survey to measure social indicators that help us better understand the health of our region. This year’s survey went live on May 5 and is open until July 4.

This year’s focus is “What does community mean to you?” Data collected from the survey reflects how a community is integrating economic, social and environmental elements and helps policy makers understand where improvements are needed.

Record-breaking gas prices are the latest challenge for businesses that need to transport goods across our region. The cost per litre of regular gas hit $2.219 this week. That compares to $1.526 in December. The rapid increase is partly linked to global shortages caused by sanctions on Russian energy supplies after the invasion of Ukraine. However, supply issues existed before the war began and are expected to become more of a concern as demand for gas increases in the summer.

The sudden jump in gas prices has led to spirited debate in BC’s Legislature, and highlighted efforts to switch to alternative fuels.

Affordable and accessible child care is vital to the economy because it creates opportunities for working parents to contribute to the labour force. As such, The Chamber has long called for child care to be considered an investment that attracts families to our region and helps organizations find and keep workers. The provincial government now offers a wage enhancement for Early Childhood Educators and is working with the federal government to reduce the costs that families pay for care.

However, it will take more than funding for new spaces to address the lack of access to child care in Greater Victoria. Our region needs qualified workers for the many positions currently going unfilled.

“Finding an early childhood educator seems like trying to find a unicorn these days,” said Mira Laurence, executive director of the Oaklands Community Association which runs the Oaklands Little Acorn Centre. “There are no people,” Laurence said, in an interview with CHEK News. “The four-dollar top-up doesn’t even seem to be working.”

“We’re having discussions with post-secondary institutions as well as with government about how we can get more Early Child Care workers,” Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. “We need to create pathways that lead from school to jobs, or ease immigration for qualified foreign workers. And when we find staff, we need to keep them by making sure they feel valued.”

Housing supply continues to present a major bottleneck for Greater Victoria’s economy. The latest figures on Greater Victoria’s real estate market show low inventory, rising interest rates and buyer fatigue has the industry off to a slow start in 2022.

Spring is typically the busiest season fro real estate sales.

“This tells an interesting story because activity traditionally peaks over the course of the spring, and this year we have seen a gradual softening of the market,” 2022 Victoria Real Estate Board President Karen Dinnie-Smyth said in a news release. “As we have reported many times in the past years, the market hinges on supply and demand.”

A total of 824 properties in Greater Victoria sold in April, down from 1,116 in April 2021. The board’s benchmark value for a single-family home increased to $1.27 million, up from $1.23 million the month before.

The District of Saanich is the second municipality in BC to fast-track affordable housing. On Monday night, Saanich Council unanimously approved a motion to accept the streamlined process adopted earlier this month by the City of Victoria.

The decisions will streamline the approval of development proposals as long as they fit with each municipality’s Official Community Plan. This will help increase the supply of homes for workers in our region — vital to finding and keeping the staff needed for employers achieve their economic potential.