Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Forty-five percent (45%) of the respondents renting homes in rural areas say they pay more than they can afford, according to the SRD Electoral Areas Housing Needs Report.
Statistics from the 2016 census support this. 41% of renters and 9% of home owners in the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) paid more than 30% of their income on accommodation.
“This survey sheds light on an issue that is kind of hidden. People that are living in unstable housing aren't necessarily telling everyone about it because it can be embarrassing. ‘I can't afford the right housing,’ or ‘I'm living in an overcrowded place,’ or ‘I'm having to choose between good food or paying my rent,’” said Mark Vonesch from the Cortes Community Housing Society, one of the key stakeholders in this study.
“I think it's the number one issue affecting Cortes. We're at a point in our history where we can address this or we can just let it slide and go the direction that Hornby has gone, or some of these other islands that no one can afford to live on anymore. They are retirement places, where people come to holiday.”
The housing survey identified retiring seniors as the #1 area of population growth throughout the SRD.
Anecdotal evidence points to a second demographic. During COVID, a large number of professionals also moved to the country and are now working from home.
“Electoral Area D is the largest by population and the fastest growing, increasing 18% since 2011, while Electoral Areas A, B, and C increased 9%, 8%, and 8%, respectively.”
There has also been a dramatic increase in the number of housing units used as short term rentals. In 2016, there were 153 Airbnbs within the SRD. By 2021, this number had grown to 635. This situation is worse in Area C, whose population centre is Quadra Island, and Area B, or Cortes Island.
97 of the 1,663 dwellings in Area C (5.8%) are used as Airbnbs.
34 of Cortes Island’s 804 dwellings (4.2%) are vacation rentals.
Only 37 of the 1,853 dwellings in Area D (2%), south of Campbell River, are used as short term rentals.
13 of the 474 dwellings in Area A (2.7%), which stretches from Sayward to the West Coast of Vancouver Island, are Airbnbs.
While the vacation rental situation has been the focus of much discussion, they draw on only about 4.2% of the housing stock on Cortes Island. Close to a third of the island's houses (253) were vacant when the 2016 census was taken.
This is more than twice the 75 rental and 40 retail units that the housing survey states are immediately needed on Cortes Island.
