Relief for those seeking affordable rentals in Squamish is on the horizon.
The District of Squamish and BC Housing have been in talks to build purpose-built rentals on two possible pieces of District-owned downtown land.
Council passed a motion at its meeting last week to request BC Housing conduct a business case and site analysis for affordable rental housing on the empty lot at 1170 Bailey St., next to the new ParkHouse Condominiums, or at 38648 Buckley Ave., across from the Squamish Community Church.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman, Coun. Jason Blackman-Wulff and District staff met with Shayne Ramsay, the CEO of BC Housing, last week.
The interest in Squamish from BC Housing came out of an earlier gathering of mayors that included Minister Responsible for Housing Rich Coleman.
“I think it was a real step in confidence in Squamish that the CEO of BC Housing came up here,” Heintzman said. “I want to give full credit. [Coleman] actually emailed me and said he wanted to set up a meeting with the CEO of BC Housing.”
During his visit and tour of the proposed District sites Ramsay said both were “fantastic” locations, Heintzman said.
BC Housing staff will now look at the land and consider what type of housing could be provided at affordable rents.
“That has always been a challenge in the community,” Heintzman added. “There’s only about three purpose-built rental buildings. The rest are stratified condos so they don’t create a predictable place for people to rent, which is the goal.”
Heintzman is hopeful BC Housing’s analysis will be complete in about three months.
No one from BC Housing was available to comment for this story but a representative sent an emailed statement that, “BC Housing is continuing discussions with the City of Squamish regarding potential future rental housing projects.”
Identifying land for purpose built rentals was one of the 12 recommendations made by the Squamish Housing Task Force in its final report presented to council in December.
