FRIDAY MAY 20, 2016 VOL. 42, NO. 68
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Suds and Sun fundraiser Pictures from the Legion
Farmers Market
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No immediate longterm solutions for housing on Bowen LOUISE LOIK EDITOR
If you are looking for a vacation rental on Bowen, you are bound to find the perfect fit with 50 or more short-term rentals on the island with prices starting at $85/night. If, however, you are looking for long term, you could be out of luck. There is one long-term rental listing on Craigslist for Bowen Island. That’s it. The two-bedroom home is $2,200. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation states housing in Canada is considered affordable if costs account for less than 30 per cent of the household income, before tax. Mayor Murray Skeels is very familiar with the problem. “Municipal council doesn’t have access to anything like the kind of money required to provide subsidized housing. What we can do is enact policies to facilitate more appropriate construction.” He continues, “Rental apartments are the greatest challenge. Other than making it a requirement of a major commercial project, like the pub, we have very (few) opportunities. Our solution is to allow secondary suites and probably very soon allow rental units in freestanding secondary buildings on residential lots.” One family faced by the housing crunch has been living in Bowen Bay for five years. They moved here from overseas, had a child, and a couple dogs and a good life self-employed. After years of making friends, volunteering for causes and building a business, their rental home sold with a fall closing date. Wanting to maintain their semi-rural way of life, but with no rental options on Bowen, the family may be forced to find another island, per-
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The mother and son team of Realtors Dee and Frazer Elliott are navigating a feeding frenzy in the real estate market. Dee advises homeowners to use Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to get the best deal, and get an inspection before signing a deal. LOUISE LOIK photo
Help from council is on the way, but it will take a while LOUISE LOIK EDITOR
There is no immediate solution for renters who need to move out of their homes and find a new home. Currently, there is one rental on the market. In fact, by the time this goes to print, that place will likely be rented. Mayor Murray Skeels says that the municipality is working with Snug Cove House to facilitate 18 units of small lot and duplex units. “They probably won’t be rentals, but they will create
less expensive smaller homes.” In addition to these smaller homes, the municipality is also “moving quickly to sell the piece of land across from the Undercurrent office. It could provide up to 16 strata units at 1,000 square feet each.” At the same time as these projects are underway, there is also the potential to amend the OCP in order to rezone and, “make more of the Community Lands available for small lot housing.” Skeels says the community will have a chance to give their input on another possible big
change for the community. Public hearings at the end of May will focus on the issue of whether or not to allow a property owner to rezone relatively small residential lots to create two-unit strata corporations. “It’s like duplex zoning except that both owners would share in building and grounds maintenance. The rub is that it would replace secondary suites with solid units. However, if it goes ahead, it could signal a move on the island to embrace ‘eco-density.’ This would allow the community to pack in as many houses as possible in usable space. It
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should be an interesting debate,” says Skeels. Already, the moniker “Boquitlam,” is being used to refer to some of the suburban style development on Bowen. Increasing density becomes a bit of a balancing act to provide needed housing without a suburban feel. Another issue is that locals must compete for rental housing and lower cost home ownership with a growing tide of mainlanders priced out of Vancouver.
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