MP Patrick Weiler and Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman stressed the dire need for more homes not just in Pemberton, but across Canada at an announcement for federal funding in Pemberton last week.
Weiler was at Pemberton’s Downtown Community Barn on March 6 to announce more than $2.7 million for local housing initiatives from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund.
Weiler said Pemberton was the ideal candidate for the funding, and applauded the village’s unique community spirit.
"Pemberton is just a lovely place,” he said. “Recently when there was flooding, people helped each other out and really came together. It is part of what makes Pemberton what it is. People look out for each other. It’s a great community. Having access to places like Whistler is fantastic as well. I know so many people that work in Whistler live in Pemberton. It is very much a growing community, a young community.”
The MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast- Sea to Sky Country believes Pemberton will be used as an example for other communities.
“We know as a country we are going to have to be building the homes to be able to meet the demand. Pemberton very much stepped up with a very ambitious proposal,” he said. “Pemberton is a fairly small community. In order to meet its goals, it needs some help. That’s what this is about today. Some of the innovation that Pemberton has is going to be instructive for other communities. It's about having this partnership.”
Countrywide problem
Like Pemberton, communities across Canada are experiencing serious housing problems. New homes cannot be built fast enough to meet demand. Weiler referenced an October 2023 report by CMHC that stressed Canada’s dire need for more housing in the coming years.
“[It] showed that we need to be building an additional 3.5 million homes by 2030 on top of all of the ones that we were already planning to build,” said Weiler. “There’s a huge demand there. We are not building homes fast enough. We created this fund to help communities like Pemberton right across the country so we can speed up this process.”
Weiler said a comment from Councillor Katrina Nightingale at a recent council meeting captured his attention.
“I was looking at some of the recent commentary from council meetings where they were talking about how librarians and schoolteachers can't live here,” he said. “It’s something that we are seeing across BC and across the country. it is a crisis that requires everyone to pull together.”
Keeping Pemberton's unique spirit
Mayor Mike Richman said the housing pressure has moved the whole way up the Sea to Sky corridor. He believes Pemberton has hidden unique qualities that captures people’s hearts.
“We want to build housing for Pemberton [residents] who want to live here and build this community,” he said. “We know the demand for that is here. We have that perfect combination of being rural, being hospitable and being close and accessible to all these other things. It's a very rare combination. They have discovered us. We are on the map now. It took a little while, but they finally figured it out.”
Both politicians stressed the housing built will be the housing Pemberton needs, in keeping with the plan of the village. The mayor said the new housing will fit in with council’s priorities and values.
”This fund is not about just building a whole bunch of units,” said Richman. “It's about how we approach our development. It's about how we can encourage the right types of housing so that we can encourage a diverse community and protect the uniqueness of Pemberton.”
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