When I was 27, my husband and I bought our first house for $112,000. We were both educated professionals already making about $50,000 each per year, and we had saved a down payment of 10 per cent.
Still, it seemed like a struggle, and the payments were really only covering the interest. The mortgage statements were depressing, showing in a year we paid only about $1,000 off. We joked we owned only the bathroom; the rest belonged to the bank.
When we later relocated, with a toddler and baby in tow, and bought another house, we chose a fixer-upper at $80,000. We paid double the minimum each month plus often threw extra money against the mortgage. Slowly, we were finally getting ahead, and we eventually moved to a beautiful house that, with more years of hard work and careful budgeting, eventually became ours.
On Friday, I attended the mayor’s discussion on housing in Squamish with about 20 people, some of whom were young professionals armed with university degrees and working in good jobs. Their pay is likely only a little higher than ours was 20 years ago, as pay rates have not kept pace with inflation, and they live in Squamish, which most of the world would consider a rural town.
Their dream of home ownership is elusive. How can they possibly afford to buy a family house at $800,000 or a three-bedroom apartment at $400,000? Even if they can make the down payment then pay $3,500 a month, they would never get ahead, so their only hopes of ever having a mortgage-burning party are if they receive a large inheritance or start a successful business.
Meanwhile, rent is going up dramatically; a home large enough for a family starts at about $2,500 a month. And that’s if you can find a rental at all. Even some professionals are in danger of becoming homeless as landlords hike rates to match rising market values and the vacancy rate is near zero, leaving people nowhere to go.
While the discussion Friday included talk of creating rental suites and tiny homes, the reality is that no one had an answer to Squamish’s housing woes. If things are dire for professional couples, the situation for a single mother or a minimum-wage worker is impossible. The homeless shelter sometimes even houses working people desperate for a place to sleep.
How can we, as a society, fix this problem? Will an intervention work? It’s worth a try, as many families are now simply packing up and moving away. And their loss is also ours.
