If you want to find a place on the island to live that’s both affordable and liveable, I don’t think you can’t find a better place on the island to live right now than Port McNeill.
Let’s first talk about affordability. There are many different variables in determining affordability, but perhaps the biggest and most important is having one’s basic shelter needs met.
When it comes to Port McNeill, not only do a majority of houses have million-dollar views, but they are very affordable. Two measures bear this out - the Median Multiple ratio and Shelter Cost to Income Ratio.
The Median Multiple ratio is calculated by dividing median dwelling value by median household income in a given community. The lower the number, the more affordable the community. A multiple of under three denotes housing is affordable, and above three denotes unaffordability (3.1-4 = moderately unaffordable, 4.1-5.0 = seriously unaffordable, and 5.1 and above = severely unaffordable). In Port McNeill, the Median Multiple is 2.35. For comparison, Port Hardy sits at 3.28, Campbell River 4.65, Sooke 5.6, north Nanaimo 5.89, and Victoria 9.43.
The Running Shelter Cost to Income Ratio shows the percentage of income that households spend on running shelter costs (rent and utilities for renters, and mortgage payments, property taxes, and utilities for owners). CMHC suggests that housing is affordable if less than 30 per cent of pre-tax income is spent on running shelter costs. In Port McNeill, only 12 per cent of households (combined statistic of owners 9.6 per cent and renters 28.4 per cent) spend more than that 30 per cent benchmark. Compare that to Port Hardy 24.5 per cent, Campbell River 22.5 per cent, Nanaimo 27.2 per cent, Sooke 28 per cent, and Victoria 36.6 per cent.
Of course, that’s all fine and dandy if you have a decent income… but if you don’t – if you are a senior on a fixed government pension, or on income assistance, or a person with a disability – affording shelter in Port McNeill can still be challenging. This, of course, is an area of interest for our current mayor and council as they explore ways to increase the stock of affordable seniors’ housing. In the meantime, it’s safe to say the majority of people in Port McNeill are living within their means in housing that they can afford.
I would also argue that the cost of food seems to be fairly reasonable. The National Nutritious Food Basket is a tool used to measure the affordability of healthy eating. This is a sample of 67 food items that would represent a well-balanced and healthy diet. The average monthly cost for a family of four in BC is $974. The average cost on North Vancouver Island is $985, compared to $983 in the Central Island and $944 in the South Island. Because Port McNeill would be lumped into the data from Campbell River, I decided to compare the cost of 10 randomly selected items from IGA in Port McNeill to Thrifty’s in Campbell River. What I found was those items were on average 2.2 per cent higher here than in Campbell River, which seemed entirely reasonable given the distance of shipping. That’s a small sample size of course, and further savings might be found at bigger box stores, but I bet when the power goes out in Campbell River those stores aren’t putting on barbecues for people like the staff did at IGA this past winter.
While Port McNeill is currently affordable, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
The cost of travel is definitely an area that needs attention. If you need to travel up and down island for medical appointments, the cost can be unbearable and logistically difficult, which puts your health at risk. If you become pregnant and delivered down island, like my family did, you’re probably looking at an additional expense of around a few thousand dollars.
I recently sat down with Mayor Shirley Ackland and she outlined a couple of areas she wants to pursue to help improve the local economy. One is to help advocate for expanding the size of the Community Forest (which would bring in much needed revenue), and two – in what I think is a brilliant idea – to develop an economy based around education.
An example given of how that might look is to take a page out of the Port McNeill Medical Collaborative’ s book. They’ve developed a very successful model of providing rural practicum placements for medical students and residents. There’s hardly a time when there isn’t numerous students and residents around – and those students not only contribute to our local economy, but help ensure our community can recruit physicians when needed.
It’s no good if a community is affordable, but not liveable. From what I see, there seems to be an incredible renaissance of vibrancy and community spirit occurring in Port McNeill. So many individuals and community groups are contributing to increasing the quality of life for residents in Port McNeill (and the North Island) – from the Wild Heart Music Society, to the Gate House Community Association, to the North Island Community Services Society, to a number of active service clubs including rotary, lions and lionesses, and the legion, to multiple active church groups, Kids in Motion, the North Island Farmers Market Society, the Community Catalysts, the Happy Gang, a road cycling group, a kids mountain biking group, and all of the other various sporting clubs, etc.
It’s certainly an exciting time to be a “Port McNeillian” - the future looks bright!
Matt Martin is the president of the Port McNeill Kids in Motion non-profit and is interested in social issues such as child care, housing, transportation, education, food security, and local politics.
* The views and opinions expressed in this opinion-editorial are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the North Island Gazette. If you have a different opinion, we request you write to us to contribute to the conversation.