When my family and I left our home in the West Kootenays and moved to Squamish in 2007, there was excitement in the air. The Olympic Games were just around the corner, venues were being built and people were moving to town.
While we moved here primarily for business opportunities in the city that offered a brighter future for our family, the Games brought the promise of a lasting legacy that would spur recreational development, bring tourists by the busload and somehow replace the lost dollars that used to flow into residents pockets from places like the pulp mill and chemical plant.
While in the process of looking for a new place to live, I was gushing about the Olympic opportunities to our real estate agent, a young but insightful woman who offered up a great house along with a healthy dose of wisdom: “It’s the road, you know. The Games will come and go, but the road will bring prosperity to Squamish.”
To be honest, I didn’t fully appreciate her comment at the time. It was, however, prophetic. The $600-million upgrade of the Sea to Sky Highway made Squamish truly accessible to Greater Vancouver. It was a bit of a trek to the city on the old road, and most people planned in advance. Now it’s an easy run into Park Royal and just as easy for Vancouverites to get here. The abundance of recreational opportunities coupled with easy access for two million people have made Squamish a more desirable place to live, work and play.
There is a downside, however. Whether it’s Boulder, Colorado (40 kilometres from Denver), Canmore, Alberta (100 kilometres outside of Calgary) or Squamish, recreational meccas adjacent to large cities see housing prices increase steadily. Residential properties in Squamish have increased in value by almost 40 per cent in the past decade, and there is no reason to believe that trend will end anytime soon. In fact, we should realistically expect those prices to climb even higher over the next few years. For people who are not yet in the home ownership market, buying a home will be very difficult on average salaries and may never be possible.
I’ve heard some folks say that they want Squamish to have its own unique identity so people will choose to build lives and businesses here. Others say that they don’t want our community to be an extension of Vancouver, a mere bedroom community. The fact is that we are both, and we need to accept that reality.
Many have also complained that home prices are too high and need to come down. That doesn’t happen in a healthy economy, and when it does, it is normally a result of something far worse. I grew up in small-town British Columbia and watched helplessly more than once as the main employer (usually a mill or a mine) closed down and people lost their jobs. The loss of their home often followed. Yes, the house prices came down, but few people wanted that real estate.
What we do need is a local housing policy based on the idea that modest but steady price increases are inevitable and ultimately a good thing. For those affected by high rent and even higher home prices, I urge you to get involved with the local tenancy association and District of Squamish task force.
