In 1955, Ernie Winter, a well known plumbing contractor and member of the Rotary Club of Kelowna, started negotiations on behalf of the Rotary Club for the acquisition from the City of Kelowna of property in the north end of Kelowna to be used for low cost housing for elderly people who could not afford regular housing. The properties were sold to the Pleasantvale Homes Society for a total price of One Dollar and the resulting development saw 34 bachelor units and 16 one-bedroom units in a row-housing format.
The Pleasantvale Homes Society was incorporated as a Society under the British Columbia Society Act under constitution and by-laws filed in Victoria on April 25, 1956 and among its objectives were the following:
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to relieve conditions of poverty within the City of Kelowna;
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to create a non-profit corporation for the purpose of providing homes for elderly citizens within the City of Kelowna and surrounding district,
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to assist in the construction or reconstruction of low rental housing units for elderly citizens of low income who are unable to purchase adequate accommodation,
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to hold and manage low rental housing.
The Society membership was to be comprised of five persons, four to be appointed by the Rotary Club of Kelowna, and one to be appointed by the City of Kelowna. Ernie Winter was one of the founding members, while the others; except for the city appointee were all members of the Rotary Club of Kelowna. Ernie Winter was the original moving force that allowed the project to proceed, and he continued to lead the Society, as it's president until the 1990's when due to failing health, he retired. In all of that time there were only the five Shareholders and Directors of whom four were always Rotarians and one was a person appointed by the City of Kelowna. These devoted Rotarians worked to maintain the buildings and create housing at a minimal cost for elderly people, true to the original objectives as set out in the Constitution.
In the 1990's and earlier there were various suggestions for the redevelopment of the property. Studies were made and designs submitted, but none came to any fruition. The project continued to operate as it does today with 50 units, of which 34 are relatively small bachelor units and 16 are slightly larger one-bedroom units. While, over the years, only five or six Rotarians were directly involved each year in running Pleasantvale Homes, the Rotary Club of Kelowna has always considered it to be one of its major projects. In fact in the early 1990's the following Resolution was passed on a motion by Pat Walls, seconded by Harold Henderson (himself a stalwart member of the Rotary Club of Kelowna and one of the earlier members of Pleasantvale Homes Society), namely; "That the Rotary Club of Kelowna endorse as a long-term major project the future preservation and possible expansion of Pleasantvale Homes." In the 1990's, work was done to revise the Constitution and bylaws because negotiations had commenced with the Okanagan Similkameen Health Region (now Interior Health) for a proposed partnership in which the Health Region undertake to build a residential care facility on the property while the Pleasantvale Homes Society would continue to provide affordable housing for its current and future residents. The Constitution was accordingly amended to expand its objectives to include the following: a) "To operate exclusively as a charitable institution, for the purpose of constructing, providing, maintaining, leasing, owning and managing one or more housing units and related facilities for seniors and adult disadvantaged or disabled persons; and b) To participate with other organizations in the provision of housing and support programs for seniors and adult disadvantaged or disabled persons, and to acquire by way of grant, gift, or bequest real and personal property and hold, use, lease, and apply such property as may be necessary or desirable in the carrying out of the purposes of the society."
The membership was expanded to include all of the members of the Rotary Club of Kelowna. This new constitution was unanimously upheld and passed so that the Rotary Club of Kelowna took ownership of the project through the Pleasantvale Homes Society. The new Constitution and bylaws were passed November 22, 2001 and became effective October 9, 2002 when they were filed with and accepted by the Registrar of Companies in Victoria.
Following many years of further review, studies and proposals, a new direction was taken. Earlier a committee composed of PHS Board and Rotary Club of Kelowna members researched all viable options for the redevelopment and their proposal was subsequently accepted by the Rotary Club members. In 2011, the property which included that owned by the City of Kelowna and Pleasantvale, was "sold" to BC Housing for the eventual redevelopment. During this redevelopment process, over the next several years, the society will continue to operate and manage the site.
