A community group in Nakusp is trying to get a handle on just how big the rental problem is in the village.
The Nakusp and Area Development Board has launched an online survey designed to find out who’s looking for rental housing, who’s offering it, and what the market really looks like.
“The survey is our first information-gathering exercise to see where things are at, what people’s thoughts are on the issue,” says Aidan McLaren-Caux, the Chamber of Commerce representative on the NADB.
He says the survey will begin to fill a big knowledge gap about housing in Nakusp.
“I’ve done research for other communities close to here,” he says. “You can find information about them, pricing, tenancy rates. Here it is very anecdotal, nothing is posted, there’s no centralized database for just getting information.”
“Even something like what is the average rent in Nakusp, what is the cost for a home or suite, and what’s available- it’s almost impossible to find those things listed.”
So the NADB, which acts as kind of a community think-tank for larger economic development issues, launched the online survey to try to gather some of that knowledge.
Mclaren-Caux says as a businessperson himself, he knows housing is an issue.
“I used to manage 10 staff, and one of the biggest issues I had, you could hire people but they had no place to stay,” he says. “So it’s pretty exigent and ongoing. I won’t say ‘crisis’, but it’s a pretty big deal.”
Searching for a roof
The shortage is a pretty big deal for Rin McGnar and Jason Meiras. The young Kelowna couple want to get out of the city, and have chosen Nakusp as the place they want to live.
“We want to live there permanently, make it our forever-home,” says McGnar. “We want to find something to rent initially, get our feet set. I’ll look for work- Jason works out of town and I want to find stuff in town, substitute teaching, tree planting- something around town to do.”
Even with a robust rental budget, they’re finding it tough just to get leads.
“We have some friends that live there, and they have been doing their best to help us,”says McGnar. “They just bought a place themselves. They were having to stay at friend’s places, and house-sit, because it is such a tough market. Now they have a place they own, and they say the weight is off their shoulders.”
“But we’re going to keep trying, we’re not going to give up,” she says, adding they’ve expanded their search to Burton and New Denver. “The plan is to rent, then look to buy.”
But even in those communities, things are tight.
New Denver resident Isy Schumann is looking for a place for her son to move to the region.
“We have three people here in New Denver now looking for rental housing,” says Schumann. She’s also on the team trying to find a new doctor for the community, but says even keeping existing staff is turning into an issue.
“There’s a paramedic living in town who’s been looking for months, and can’t find anything,” she told Arrow Lakes News. “With all our hospital stuff going on, it would be dangerous to lose a paramedic.”
She thinks the new vacant-home tax being implemented by the provincial government will aggravate the housing shortage in rural areas.
“It’s going to drive that problem to other rural areas,” she says. “I see people looking for rentals, and I talk to them, and we need help from the government.
“Why are they just building [affordable housing] in cities, but not rural communities? We get overlooked.”
Schumann, who used to live in Banff and Canmore, says local communities are not ready for what’s happening.
“I would say, keep your eyes open, be aware, there’s a wave coming in and it’s going to be a tsunami,” she warns. “I don’t know if that’s because I spent 30 years in Canmore and I’ve been here 14 years and I saw previous waves.
“I think now it’s got so out-of-reach in cities, that people are moving here and then figuring out how to live. Shelter comes before a job. Some people are creative, if they can find a place, they can make it work.”
Survey just first step
The NADB survey will collect data for about a month, then use it as a “jumping off point”, says McLaren-Caux, to try to develop the village’s options. But he says they’re already gleaning some insights into the situation.
“What we’re hearing from so far, is that there’s a lot of people who don’t want to rent because there’s issues with renters and the way properties are managed,” he says. “I think some people have shied away from doing it because they are afraid of what can happen to their property, and the legislative structure is more in favour of tenant.”
One solution might be- and McLaren- Caux emphasizes it’s just his opinion - might be to attract a property manager to the village to protect landlords interests.
“Then there’s people who seem to think there’s not enough well-paying work to afford a rental,” he adds. “You can’t pay $300/month from the landlord’s side, but for tenants you can’t pay $2,000. So there has to be a supply-and-demand crossover at some point.”
Nakusp and area residents can see the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/59CQQWP.