When it comes to affordability, the province needs to start looking at Squamish like it鈥檚 part of the Lower Mainland. We鈥檙e feeling the same crunch, whether their data reflects it or not.
The 2018 budget document targeted growing communities affected by the 麻豆传媒映画housing crisis for a new tax that would discourage foreign purchasing. Squamish was forgotten, and the District is still determining if that was deliberate or an oversight.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman sent a letter to Finance Minister Carole James asking about the decision, but as of [Squamish Chief鈥檚] print time, hadn鈥檛 heard back.
At a March 20 committee meeting, Heintzman said she had a conversation with MLA Jordan Sturdy about the tax, and both politicians were concerned that the 鈥済overnment didn鈥檛 have any idea about the cost of housing in Squamish.鈥�
In 2017, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released updated average rental costs for communities across the province, including Squamish.
The 2017 survey lists no price for a bachelor apartment 鈥� there just simply isn鈥檛 enough available to provide a statistic. A one bedroom apparently is $1,036 while the average two bedroom goes for $1,161, apparently.
Stranger still, the price of a three-bedroom townhouse rental is listed at $1,479.
The survey does acknowledge that vacancy rates for Squamish are very low across the board and contribute to the problem.
Those numbers don鈥檛 reflect the true cost of renting for those looking at apartment listings.
The numbers for 麻豆传媒映画(which includes the Lower Mainland suburbs) are more familiar: average one bedrooms start at $1,223, while two bedrooms go for $1,552 and three-bedrooms $1,800.
As any renter in Squamish who arrived in the past five years can tell you, a single bedroom in a five-person house will cost you $700. For a single professional who isn鈥檛 keen on roommates, expect an above-ground one bedroom to run you closer to $1,300 or $1,500 per month.
Squamish might be an extra 45 minutes up the highway, but our costs are increasingly connected to Vancouver鈥檚 housing crisis.
There鈥檚 plenty of debate on the best way to fix that 鈥� and maybe the foreign buyers tax isn鈥檛 the best way to affect rentals or housing values 鈥� but if the province is introducing measures to protect the Lower Mainland, they need to remember that Squamish needs the help too.
