The rat race of living and working in an urban centre often includes lengthy, high-stress commutes, increasing housing costs and a work-life balance that can include more work than life.
When Quentin Smith, president of Pacific Coastal Airlines, decided to return with his wife and family to Powell River in October 2014, where he went to high school, it was the lifestyle of a small community that drew them.
“I knew the area,” said Smith. “Both my wife and I love the outdoors. We’d been living in Vancouver for about 30 years and just needed to get out of the city.”
With access to a variety of outdoor activities and sports and culture facilities such as Powell River Recreation Complex and Powell River Academy of Music, Smith said Powell River stood out from other small communities.
Smith, who commutes to Vancouver for work, said when he was living in the Lower Mainland his daily drive to the office wasn’t as long as some other city residents, but he noticed a change when he went from commuting by car to by air.
“We talked about moving for five years, and my biggest concern was the commute,” he said. “In Vancouver my commute was only 15 minutes, but what I found coming up here is, even though the commute time is longer, it’s time I can spend for business, or personal transition and quiet time before I get home.”
When Smith found himself behind the wheel driving to and from work in Vancouver, he said he was in traffic, unable to focus on anything else other than driving and the other commuters around him.
“Now I sit at the back of the plane, work on my computer and prepare for my day. Commuting by air has actually improved my productivity,” he said.
Other smaller BC cities such as Gibsons, Nanaimo and Squamish have gained attention from commuters who have chosen affordable real estate in communities that are still relatively close to Vancouver.
While flight service between Powell River and Vancouver airports could make commuting to larger cities easier for some, Scott Randolph, City of Powell River manager of economic development, said the city’s resident-attraction campaign (RAC) has largely been targeting entrepreneurs and telecommuters.
“Our focus over the first year of the campaign has really been on young families who are entrepreneurial and are able to do their jobs from anywhere,” he said.
The RAC was launched in January 2015, in partnership between City of Powell River and Tourism Powell River, to promote the city as a destination for those looking to relocate for work, lifestyle and investment opportunities.
According to Randolph, unlike Gibsons, Sechelt or Nanaimo, which are one ferry away from the Horseshoe Bay or Tsawwassen ferry terminals, Powell River is not likely to become an option for daily commuters.
“The people we’ve attracted are largely people who are able to work remotely and then go to the main office one or two times a month for meetings when they need to, and that’s been our focus, because daily commuting is largely out of reach,” he said.
Randolph said increasing housing costs in Vancouver, Toronto and other urban centres have been positively impacting Powell River.
“The increasing cost of housing in Vancouver has given us an advantage,” he said. “There hasn’t been a mass migration, but we are seeing a trickle of people coming to Powell River because of the cost of living in the city.”
Due to incomplete census information, Randolph said he has not been able to quantify the numbers yet, but said there is anecdotal information to suggest many people have been making the move to Powell River from bigger cities in favour of affordable housing and a better quality of life.
“If you look at the Powell River real estate market right now, the inventory has tightened,” he said. “There isn’t a lot out there under $300,000 and decent. That speaks to an increased interest in our city. Vancouver has reached a point now where ownership of a single, detached home is completely out of reach for the majority of people. They are starting to look at other options.”
The affordability of Powell River real estate has meant buyers are being pushed out of the Lower Mainland and into markets such as Powell River, said Neil Frost, Powell River Sunshine Coast Real Estate Board president.
“For owners in Vancouver and other areas with very high property values, they are finding they can cash out and either be mortgage-free here or move up the property ladder of the quality of homes they can afford, like waterfront property,” said Frost. “Having said that, many people are coming here for quality of life, not just based on affordability or value.”
Frost said even though real estate agents in the area have been seeing buyers coming up from Vancouver for several years, he said the flow of buyers coming to check out Powell River has been steady through the winter when typically it trails off in December and picks up again in early spring.
Similar to Smith and Randolph, Frost said he expects the number of daily commuters from Powell River will remain low, with interest remaining among telecommuters or those who can work remotely and only need to visit Vancouver occasionally.
Smith and Randolph agree that new technology is allowing many people to work remotely where possible, which keeps them from having to be onsite for meetings and other business.
Smith said he has seen regular flyers aboard the plane when he makes the trip down to Vancouver, but he has not seen a huge increase in those choosing to make the commute from Powell River.
“You definitely see some people who know there is a nice lifestyle here, and it is relatively close to Vancouver, which works for them,” said Smith. “You can get a house and property in Powell River for a quarter of what it would be in Vancouver, and the money you can put in your pocket by leaving Vancouver goes a long way to helping figure out the solutions of how to get to the Lower Mainland for work.”
