As Bowen Island entices more mainlanders, longtime residents face housing crunch
Those reliant on affordable rentals are being squeezed out
For decades, Ron Woodall was the Don Draper of British Columbia: a hired advertising gun for countless companies, creative director for Expo 86, creator of the A&W Bear.
In his retirement, he moved to Bowen Island and has become something of an unofficial illustrator of the island's culture, drawing cartoons in the weekly newspaper and portraits of locals.
"I'm a real introvert … so I thought if I spent an hour drawing somebody, and I'd give them the drawing, I should have by then a friend that I can recognize," he said.
But there's another way Woodall documents the happenings of Bowen: a regularly updated list of all the people who have left the island.
On a computer document, he scrolls through pages and pages of departed names.
"I've been watching who leaves. They tend to be the people we used to think of as the iconoclastic, rural, interesting islanders," said Woodall.
"There's some assimilation going on and I don't know if we are assimilating to the people coming in, or they are assimilating to the island."
Affordable housing squeeze
The rising price of real estate in Metro Vancouver has changed every municipality in the region, in ways big and small.
In a place like Bowen Island, where geography is paramount and everyone seemingly knows everyone else, the worries about change seem to be more pervasive.
"People came here at one time to escape the trappings of city, and get to live a quiet lifestyle. And I guess a lot of people think they're being taken over by yuppies, for lack of a better word," said Jen McIntyre, who sees many arguments play out on the local Facebook group she administers.
The relative affordability of Bowen — a 20-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver — has enticed people squeezed out of Metro Vancouver's more affluent communities. In the 2016 census, 27 per cent of residents said they had moved to the island in the past five years, compared to 21 per cent in Vancouver.
But with limited housing options on the 50-square kilometre island, it's also reduced the availability of affordable rentals for longtime islanders.
"It was where we could afford in Metro Vancouver. It was either this or Maple Ridge," said former councillor Melanie Mason, who moved to Bowen in 2013 and lost October's mayoral election by just two votes.
"Housing security for people who are renting on the island is pretty dicey. That's probably the thing that pushed me over the edge to run. My kids' classes are getting smaller every year."
Creative options
For Rondy Dike, owner of the island's marina, the desperate need for more affordable rentals forced him into action.
"We had to find a solution, and the solution was build some floating homes," he said.
A duplex finished this summer houses the chef and kitchen manager for the marina's restaurant, and Dike hopes five other floathomes will follow.
"We still need people in the restaurant all year long. And there's just nowhere for them to live," he laments.
Dike has the capital and waterfront required for such a solution, but Coun. Rob Wynen knows a more sustainable solution is needed.
"The problem is 90 per cent of the houses are all single-family homes. So that's a bit tricky," he said.
Too little, or just in time?
Wynen said council will continue to explore ways that smaller, affordable rental units can be built on island-owned land — though it will take time to both approve those projects and construct those homes.
Even though Mason lost her election bid, she's optimistic locals are more on board with growth than they have been in the past.
"Some of that older generation, old-time Bowen, they see that there's not even a place for their adult kids to come back to. So I think that's helped," she said.
That sense of community is what gives McIntyre optimism that people will be able to find solutions.
"There's the old school and the new school, and they have to figure out how to work together, and I think they're doing a pretty good job," she said.
"I think there is a commonality among people where they're willing to give up some of the conveniences of living in the city … and so I think that really glues us together."
Metro Matters: On The Road is exploring how new city governments throughout B.C. are approaching age-old issues (some political, some not) in their communities.
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