While Squamish is growing at three times the provincial average, there aren’t enough missing middle homes, specifically townhomes, according to a housing needs report presented to the Squamish council recently.
As of 2021, townhouses comprised 15% of Squamish’s housing stock, slightly below the proportion seen across the region (17%). However, these townhomes are likely in older developments and feedback from builders indicates there has been a lack of new townhouse development, partly attributed to limited land availability and current market challenges, the report notes.
In 2022, the District hired CitySpaces consulting to complete a Housing Needs Report for District, in accordance with provincial legislation. This is the District’s first housing needs report, as mandated by the Province, and it builds on previous studies related to housing. The report spotlights the gaps and challenges facing housing in Squamish as the community continues to grow at a fast pace.
The report says builders and developers are facing cost escalations, supply chain issues, and labour shortages when it comes to increasing the diversity of the town’s housing stock. They also note a lack of available zoning for townhouses or other ground-oriented residential uses that allow families a chance to live in a desirable community.
“Apart from Polygon’s new Garibaldi Springs development, there has been very limited new townhouse construction in recent years. Builders and developers specified the lack of available land as a constraint in developing more townhouses and also recognized the current market challenges. One participant specified “the market is dead in general”.
There isn’t much of so-called missing-middle housing in town, such as duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, multiplexes, townhouses, row housing, cottage clusters and courtyard apartments. “There has been a lack of missing middle construction in Squamish over the last four years, with only 3% of completions comprising semi-detached housing,” the report says.
