Almost a quarter of Squamish lives in unaffordable housing

Recently released housing census data shows one thing that many people in Squamish already know — it’s a hard place to find affordable housing.

This cache of data from the 2021 census was released last month and provides the latest glimpse into the affordability challenges facing the town.

Statistics Canada’s numbers say that almost 5,000 people — about 21% of Squamish's population — live in unaffordable housing. 

For Canada, the overall number is about 5.9 million people in total. That’s about 17% of the population.

A dwelling is considered unaffordable when its inhabitants spend 30% or more of their income on shelter.

In Squamish, about 17% of all homeowners live in unaffordable units. By comparison, in all of Canada, 12.7% of owners live in unaffordable conditions.

When the census describes people living either as owners or renters, it refers to all people in a household. So, for example, the children of owners don’t own the unit, but they are lumped in the same category.

As for renters, the census numbers show that 31.4% of all renters in Squamish live in unaffordable units. Nationally, 27.2% of all renters live in unaffordable conditions.