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Editorial: Census highlights quest for affordability

More affordable prices have begun to attract both seniors and young families
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Honeymoon Bay, in Area F, has seen an influx of people since the last Census. (Gazette file)

We didn’t need the Census to tell us that the Cowichan Valley is a popular place for people to move to.

Given the growing concern about real estate affordability it’s also not that much of a surprise that the Cowichan Lake area has seen the most growth in terms of percentages.

Youbou, Meade Creek, Mesachie Lake, Honeymoon Bay and the Town of Lake Cowichan are all beautiful communities, with most of the amenities that anyone could want, from schools, to a grocery store, restaurants, and of course, lake recreation.

At one time, most of these communities actually had bigger populations, with many families supported by a formerly booming logging industry. Jobs in the woods as well as in the mills (yes, plural) provided good paycheques for young families. But then hard times hit: mills closed and forestry jobs waned, and people had to move elsewhere to pursue work. Communities contracted in size. And real estate prices dropped accordingly.

In recent years more affordable prices have begun to attract both seniors looking for a comfortable retirement and young families looking for somewhere they can get into a skyrocketing housing market.

This is great news for communities that have endured hard times, as it will bring economic opportunities and more services back to neighbourhoods. The Royal Bank may well rue the day, and soon, that it decided to close its Lake Cowichan branch.

Other areas of the Cowichan Valley have also seen big increases in population, and managing that kind of growth will be key for the future of our area. We imagine that Cowichan will continue to be an attractive place for people, as it remains slightly more affordable than the two cities that bracket it, Victoria and its suburbs and Nanaimo.

The scramble for housing for all of these newcomers is an ongoing issue, especially housing of the affordable variety. We are at a very important time in the development of our communities that will decide what they are going to look like going forward. Our local governments must put a lot of critical thought into community planning now and in the coming years.

But perhaps where the population growth will hit the hardest with this new Census is the City of Duncan, which has finally tipped over the 5,000 resident mark that means it will have to pay for 70 per cent of its own policing. Critical eyes will certainly be turned to taxes there to see just how prepared the city is for this eventuality.