Last night I said goodbye to my neighbours who are moving to Penticton.
The price of housing (and everything else) in Squamish had gotten too much for them. They owned a townhome near my unit and figured they could sell, make a tidy profit and buy something even better in the interior where things don’t have resort-style price tags.
Unfortunately, they were not the first of my friends to get the heck outta Dodge (er, Squamish) in the past year in an attempt to find a more financially viable lifestyle.
My other friends moved to Kelowna recently, selling their home in Brackendale so they could afford something nicer and far less expensive. My buddy was also getting sick of the daily commute to Vancouver and back because, along with the problem of sky-high prices of housing and everything else in Squamish, there are few jobs here that pay enough for people to afford to live in the community.
That’s a big problem. Sure, the hour-long commute to Vancouver isn’t that bad compared to folks who commute daily to the city from Surrey or Abbotsford, but it does take its toll after a while. You also get really jealous of co-workers who can walk to work or who can go out afterwards with colleagues for movies or drinks and not brave the Sea to Sky Highway daily.
This exodus of good, community-minded Squamish people is heart-breaking. People who loved Squamish and set down roots here have been forced to find greener pastures because things are basically out of control.
What we need is a solid, strategic community plan from council that looks at the overall Squamish real estate issues, as well as the local economy. We need rental units (affordable ones!) for seasonal and low-income workers. We need community housing. We need to encourage more businesses to come to Squamish so there are more jobs.
Let’s start by incentivizing businesses in the exploding tech or digital sectors. Squamish has so many designers, artists and marketing/advertising creatives living in town that we could make a name for ourselves in the field.
Expand the industrial park. Offer subsidies for office spaces to businesses that move here.
We have to do something, and start sooner than later. I’m getting tired of saying goodbye to my Squamish friends.
