Editor’s note: The follow is part of a series of letters from students in teacher Jennifer Mansour’s class at Learning Expeditions. The students are in grades 7 to 12. If you would like to get your class involved in writing letters — includes a visit from The Chief editorial staff — email [email protected].
In a few years, when I graduate from high school, I’m going to be living on my own and it’s going to be difficult to stay in Squamish. I’m either going to have to move out of Squamish because of how expensive the price of living is, or I’m going to need a few roommates.
Living in Squamish is too hard for most people who are just graduating high school. Most teenagers that have just graduated work for minimum wage ($11.35/hour) or just over minimum wage, and they are making around $1,850 per month. That is not enough money to rent any place in Squamish with the baseline rent being $2,100 per month. However, in the Fraser Valley rent is about $1,200 per month. There would be $650 left over after rent, and this money could pay for utilities, myphone bill, food, and car insurance.
If the minimum wage in B.C was raised to $15 per hour, people just graduating high school could make enough money to pay for rent and utilities in Squamish. The B.C. N.D.P. is already working on increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour. They have a set deadline to have this done by 2021.
Some people are concerned that the minimum wage increase is going to happen too quickly for businesses to adjust. If minimum wage is increased, small businesses will probably have to cut jobs and raise prices of products and/or services. When minimum wage is increased, lower income families will be spending more of that money at stores or paying for services or products.
If the cost of living in Squamish doesn’t decrease or minimum wage doesn’t increase it’s going to be hard to keep living here. If I want to stay here after high school I’m going to need to have some roommates to help pay for rent, or I could move to the Fraser Valley or somewhere that’s not on the coast.
Chase McKee
