In a community that is known for having the highest average age in the country, affordable family housing has been a hot topic at Qualicum Beach town council in recent weeks.
At Monday’s (March 20) council meeting, three residents got up to speak to council on family housing in the area.
Jared Shaw, who works in the tech industry, said he’s used to making decisions based on data.
“A major problem here tonight is I don’t see data being used … If you want data, I can read from Craigslist postings for homes,” Shaw said. “There’s five postings for ‘available suites’; 19 for ‘in search of.’ Want to know how many bedrooms you need? It says clearly: three … There’s some data.”
Shaw is just one of the many people who are working in the tech industry within Qualicum Beach.
Cloudhead Games, which started out in Coombs but has since moved to occupy the old fire hall in Qualicum Beach, employs more than 30 people locally.
Cloudhead Games has also been a part of the discussions regarding family housing since it employs younger people with families.
At the Jan. 16 council meeting, Mayor Teunis Westbroek said staff was working with the applicant of 560-570 Laburnum Rd. and the employees of Cloudhead to see what they could do with the development in terms of homes and price points.
The development, which went to second reading, was just amended to include 22 lots, six of which would permit duplexes.
Across the street is the West Ridge development — a 50-lot development. While it’s not brimming with families, Jamie Larson of the Home Lab Real Estate Group said there are a couple of families with a couple of kids each living in the development, despite Councillors Barry Avis and Anne Skipsey repeatedly saying there are no families living there.
Adam Strobl, who has been living in Qualicum Beach for four years, said he lives in the Westridge development with his family.
Strobl said they bought the lot for $175,000 and it was priced at what he would say was cheap compared to everything else in the area. But, he added, he doesn’t know if “affordable” would be the right word.
While they were searching for land, Strobl said, they kind of went back and forth on the Westridge location but the pros outweighed the cons.
With a smaller property, Strobl said he can spend less time maintaining the area and instead spend more time with his family.
“That’s what’s keeping the cost more affordable,” he said. “Doubling the size of lots would make it closer to $300,000 and if we’re talking about a family house, who the heck can afford that?”
At Monday’s meeting, Shaw said the town is on the verge of losing a tech industry that employs people within the company.
“You’re making it impossible for us to do what we need to do here,” Shaw said.
Shaw told The NEWS in 2014 that he chose to move to Qualicum Beach because he liked the area and the lifestyle.
Now three years later, Shaw said the lack of housing means that local business people may have to leave town and go somewhere else.
“I hope we can manage developers and not have them flipping these duplexes for 10 grand into a house — a two-bedroom rancher — that they can sell to some old folks for more,” said Shaw, referring to the development on Laburnum Road.
Isaac Morgan, another parent in the community, said there is a lot of what could be family housing in the town.
He said by looking at data, there are about 4,000 dwelling units of which the median price is about $425,000.
“The problem, I think, is that a good portion of the lower-priced housing units are in strata developments that have age restrictions,” Morgan said.
He added council should ensure that any new strata developments have restrictive covenants that prevent age restrictions, as well as a mix of housing units.