Squamish is moving in the right direction regarding “affordable housing,” but it needs to do more, and act fast.
The District recently received a report from M’Akola Development Services that recommended council create a Squamish Housing Organization to act as a central hub for divvying out affordable units; a step in the right direction.
BC Housing too, has committed $145,000 toward building an affordable housing project on Buckley Avenue, and the District will also be looking at creating a strategy and affordable housing process.
And while we wait for the bureaucratic process to churn out “affordable housing” — which, let’s be real, no one really knows what that means — people are leaving Squamish today because they can’t afford to pay rent.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman recently said she was disappointed the feds didn’t include more funding for housing in the 2018 budget. Yes, that was disappointing. There’s a housing crisis in the B.C., and we need all the help we can get.
But municipalities aren’t powerless; they have tools to make changes now.
For one, Squamish could rein in, or even ban Airbnb. A radical move perhaps, but something has to be done. Short term vacation rentals may be the culprit doing the most damage to the housing market, and regulating it is the responsibility of each municipality it operates in.
Airbnb has a big foothold in Squamish. There are more than 500 rental listings in Squamish (around 250 of them currently active) listed on Airbnb, according to Airdna, a website that studies Airbnb and rental market data. Nearly half of these units are owned by professional hosts, and almost 70 per cent of the listings are for entire homes. How many of those could be homes for people who live here?
A recent study from McGill University found that Airbnb removed more than 13,000 units of rental housing from markets in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. That study recommends cities regulate short-term rentals using three simple rules: 1) one host, one rental; 2) no full-time, entire-home rentals; and 3) make platforms responsible for enforcement.
In early November, council recommended creating a strategy to regulate Airbnb rather than the current practice of dealing with rentals on a complaint basis, but we haven’t seen it yet. If we care about affordability, it needs to be a priority.
The District should also ask for more from those who bring forward development proposals. As a municipality, it is within their rights to demand better amenities. Up-zoning is a privilege, not a right.
Recently, they postponed asking the province to include Squamish in the foreign buyers and speculators tax as well, also a mistake that showed a disappointing lack of courage.
