With the budget season upon us, Squamish Housing is requesting a five-year partnership with the District of Squamish to support its mission of 400 affordable houses by 2029.
The organization has requested an investment from the District for $2.3 million to be dispersed over five years to help reach its housing goal.
“This budget request is an investment that will support Housing Squamish with leveraging partner funds toward a goal of 400 homes underway by 2029,” Squamish Housing executive director Sarah Ellis wrote in a report to council.
“With stable, affordable and accessible housing we know that Squamish can continue to thrive as a diverse, equitable, and resilient community.
Ellis added that since Housing Squamish became operational in 2022, the independent non-profit society has leveraged $900,000 in District contributions to access almost $11 million in pre-development and acquisition funds from other funding partners.
“These investments have put us on the road toward building and/or protecting up to 200 below-market rental homes in our community in coming years,” she said.
Ellis wrote that the need for affordable housing in the future is evident as rent and home prices continue to increase.
She noted that Housing Squamish received more than 200 applications for eight below-market homes in the Highline community, including from couple and single-parent families, singles, and seniors.
“We hear daily from community members who are living in insecure, unaffordable, or inadequate housing and in deep need, and are deeply aware of the transformative power of secure housing for residents and our community as a whole,” she wrote.
Ellis added that an investment of just over $2.3 million over five years—ranging from $500,000 to $425,000 per year—would support Housing Squamish with “core operations and business development and could leverage up to $100 million in partner funding to deliver our target of 400 homes.”
Housing Squamish was established by the District in 2022, with a three-year partnership agreement that is set to end in 2025.
The District has provided Housing Squamish with a $225,000 operating grant annually funded through taxation. In 2024, the District's contribution to Housing Squamish increased to $825,000, with funds sourced from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) grant and the District’s affordable housing reserve.
The new five-year funding request asks for a $500,000 investment in both 2025 and 2026, a $450,000 investment in both 2027 and 2028 and $425,000 in 2029.
The new agreement would see the investment funded by taxation, the CMHC housing accelerator fund and the District's affordable housing reserve.
At a committee of the whole meeting on Sept. 24 the District’s senior director of community development Jonas Velaniskis, said the funding request from Housing Squamish tapers off to “gradually replace district funding with the society's development and management revenue.”
Council feedback
Council members were asked for their feedback on the draft agreement due to return to council on Oct. 8.
Coun. Jenna Stoner, a council representative on the Housing Squamish board, said she supported the new agreement but was hesitant to use funds from the affordable housing reserve.
“I think having the affordable housing reserve sitting there in order to support development work is really important in the future, and we know that there's less and less money coming into that affordable housing reserve over time from development unless we change our CAC policy again,” Stoner said.
“The most recent 40-unit Tantalus Manner in collaboration with Hiy’ám’ Housing has been no small feat and makes a huge difference to those folks who are living in that building.
“A five-year partnership agreement, I think is not only important for the stability of this organization, but it also signals to those upper-level partners who are coming to the table, that we are serious about supporting this organization, which we know over the past year has been a challenge for a new organization to be asking for $8 million plus from the federal government or the province.
“They have questions about our commitment to supporting a new organization. So this five-year partnership agreement, I think, means almost more so than the dollars at the end of the day, it's our commitment to ensuring that they will be there in order to support the work going forward.
Coun. Andrew Hamilton was in favour of using some of the reserve funds to support the funding.
“I'm not suggesting that the entire entirety of the funding comes from the reserve, and in the presence of a capital project that we have in front of us. My general opinion would be to use the reserve for the capital project,” Hamilton said.
“I am hesitant to leave the money under the mattress because we know that that is sometimes a way to depreciate the value of our money.”
Council unanimously voted to receive the Housing Squamish report and to include feedback for the draft partnership agreement. The issue will return to council on Oct. 8.
