Let's talk housing, New West millennials

Editor's note: we recommend checking out this piece for some useful contextual background to this series.

We opened Part 1 talking about what comes up when you Google the words "New Westminster millennials." But what about when you throw words like "home" or "house" into the mix?

This is one of the exercises I first carried out researching for Millennials of New West, and going back to my notes, I cited a piece that ran in the Georgia Straight written by Charlie Smith in 2016: Millennials on the move in Metro Vancouver’s hot housing market.

Pictured at the top of the article is Tej Kainth, who did the interview “sitting in the Truffles Fine Foods across the street from New Westminster Station,” (there’s a throwback for you) speaking about how relieved she was to buy a home in this city after her 30th birthday.

“I really felt it was time for me to get into the market, and you have to plan for it,” Kainth told the Straight at the time. “So I worked very hard and saved up,” with the piece going on to note she also borrowed money from her mom and dad.

While some of the restaurants talked about in the opening paragraphs of the piece no longer exist, the idea of millennials trying to get into the market still does—well, depending on who you talk to.

In this piece, we’re checking in with our eight participants: Neil Salmond of Quayside, Shawn and Meghan Sorenson of Downtown New West, Amanda Siebert of Uptown, Matthew Ward of Downtown New West, Jens Vent-Schmidt of Quayside, Rohan Singh of Downtown New West, and Kevin Schwantje of Downtown New West.

A reminder that I did outline some of the limitations of this work in Part 1, which you can read about here.

Getting into the market earlier

For Neil Salmond, it was a bit of a journey: he was born and raised in Scotland, moved to London, then Vancouver, and ultimately ended up in New West. Salmond and his wife initially moved to Vancouver in 2010, the year the city hosted the Winter Olympics. They ended up here after his wife received a Vancouver-based job offer.

With two kids, the family realized they’d need more space—and the expectation versus reality aspect around Vancouver kicked in.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about Vancouver before 2010, but there was lots of lovely marketing around the Olympics about how beautiful and green it all was,” he says. “And so you Googled, ‘Should I go live in Vancouver?’ And it was like, ‘Yes, best place in the world, you know, everybody should.’ And also it’s very green … forward and environmental things.”

When he came to Vancouver, he described what he saw as "a bit sad."

“[I was] disappointed to see the cars everywhere, and ... just how quite North American it looked just as opposed to the sort of lovely, walkable, bikeable thing that I’d imagined in my head.”

There were three options on the table: stay in Vancouver, leave for North Vancouver, or leave for New West; the latter two seemed to line up with what they wanted for their lives. Having a friend in New West tipped the scales, and they bought their home in Quayside six years ago.

“We’re in our three-bed by the water, by the train, walking to school. I’m working at home now—I have to get a train [to downtown Vancouver] if I have to go to the office, but it’s easy-peasy. My wife walks to work, too,” explains Salmond, adding that they are on the seventh floor of a tower, with good access to space for the kids to go play and ride their bikes.

As for how Salmond feels about housing in the city?

“We can afford the mortgage, we’re on a variable rate, so that’s going to be interesting for a bit … but I mean these feel like privileged problems to have,” he says, adding that both he and his wife are well-employed. He does wish, however, that there were more homes for families like his. “Build more towers, get rid of those exclusive single-family districts and get the whole place five stories, at least. Can’t build fast enough as far as I’m concerned, we’re so far behind on what we need to do.”

While Salmond feels New West “punches above its weight” when it comes to building housing, he feels the climate crisis is going to get worse in Canada—and firmly believes everyone deserves to have a home.

“We just need to make sure that everyone has a lovely place to live, and wasting so much land on car parking, on one- or two-storey buildings that should be housing many, many more people. In a pleasant way, not talking about stacking people … in a horrible density. But just build a nice city faster than we are.”

Jens Vent-Schmidt immigrated to Canada from Germany, and also thought about getting into the market in 2015.

“At the time [my then-wife and I] were looking at buying an investment property or a property to move into, because we had some money saved and money from our wedding,” says Vent-Schmidt. “We saw a few single detached [homes] in New West. We thought about it, and we were like, ‘That’s still affordable.’”

As he puts it, the market “galloped away” from them, but they nabbed a co-op. While he and his wife are now separated, they're all still in the same co-op, "a stone's throw away" from one another. While ending up in New West was accidental, he says the move was a great change for him.

“I feel like New West has real people. When I first came here, I lived in [Kitsilano] and it didn’t feel real. It felt like people were out there putting on a show….In New West, it’s like real people live here. Real people with real struggles, and you see everyone across the board, and I enjoy that,” says Vent-Schmidt, who says the co-op he lives in provides fantastic opportunities for multi-generational interaction—which is important since his parents are back home in Germany.

But what about buying recently?

Shawn and Meghan Sorenson proudly made it work—with some sacrifices along the way. They purchased their first home in December 2021.

“[Buying in New West] became the goal because we thought it might be the most achievable for us. We never wanted to live in a suburb,” says Shawn, who adds that he and Meghan and their daughter like to walk and bike everywhere. “And we knew we couldn’t afford to live in downtown Vancouver, and I can’t think of another downtown in the Lower Mainland other than New West.”

Both stressed it was important to live somewhere where at least one of them worked to make the commute less cumbersome. Shawn works at the Massey and Anvil theatres, while Meghan works from home. They’d previously lived in a co-op on Granville Island but moved when they saw plans for a 50-storey tower going up where the co-op was. Meghan is grateful for the experience of living in a co-op, as she says it satisfied a lot of their needs—while allowing them to put money away for a down payment.

“It was not an opportune time to buy during the pandemic. Housing prices were the highest we’ve ever seen, and scarcity of the market was, there was just nothing. Nothing was available when we were looking so it was not the best time to buy,” says Meghan, who added that they, at one point, had bid over asking price by $45,000 to try and get a place in Quayside.

They were outbid after someone submitted an offer $110,000 over asking.

Eventually, the duo made a purchase, with no help from family. Their home is just under 1,000 square feet, and while they don’t have a small yard, they love living downtown.

“We got a great place,” says Meghan. “There’s only four apartments per floor, so we all get a corner. It’s a three-bedroom, which we never thought we were going to get, and three nice sized bedrooms. It’s only 950 square feet, but another [bedroom] is excellent.”

“I laugh because our 945-square-foot home in New Westminster is worth more than her parents’ family house in a suburb in Ontario that they’ve had for 35 years,” notes Shawn, who says they plan to stay where they are for the long haul—though, he wonders if the city has the capacity to build up.

“It makes us nervous when they’re talking about expediting more housing, ‘We’re gonna build more housing, we’re going to approve more housing, we’re gonna cut the red tape.’ But this is the housing they’re building, where it’s just too small, and it’s not the right housing,” he adds, noting that their daughter nearly didn’t get into the school in her catchment. (More on that in Part 3.)

Matt Ward bought his home May of last year. He and his wife knew they’d wanted to buy, so they settled on two options: Port Moody and New Westminster.

“I have a lot of affection for Port Moody,” says Ward. “I thought it was a great area, but we had friends [in New West] who advocated for it. We’ve always enjoyed coming out here to spend time with them. So we looked at both places and found Port Moody very competitive. It was hard to even find a place to consider.”

As was the case with Salmond, friends convinced them to come to New West, which added to the feeling of "being at home" once they settled in the city’s downtown. Ward’s wife works in Burnaby, and their home is steps away from Columbia SkyTrain station. He works in the film industry and his commute by car is fairly easy since New West is so central. When we spoke, he’d been working on a project in Surrey—a 12-minute drive from their home.

“In the context of the Lower Mainland, which is so expensive, I’m sure you know there are probably people elsewhere who would look at what we spent for what we have. We’d be like, ‘This is crazy,’ you know, but in the Lower Mainland it feels like one of the most affordable places. Not only that, it’s central and has culture and transit, and it’s got a river. If you’re talking in terms of Lower Mainland price points, then I would say it’s probably the most affordable city that’s central here.”

From owning to renting

Rohan Singh calls it a 'temporary situation,' as he and his wife Erin initially lived in a one-bedroom home in Brow of the Hill. Singh, who was born in Etobicoke, Ont., and raised in Toronto, initially moved to New West after getting a job in Delta.

They decided to sell the home because they’d “amassed more stuff than there is space,” but also because they thought the home’s value had hit its peak. Singh had purchased it in 2010, with some help from his parents. Both he and his wife also graduated post-secondary without debt.

“Having the choice to sell that place and look for other accommodations, one, really reinforced how fortunate we are, and two, the challenge. It’s a game of calculus, finding a place out here,” says Singh. “You have the whole list of … the variables that go into the place you want, and then you have the conversation of price versus space versus location, versus—and you just keep moving: what can I give up? What am I willing to give up on one for the other?”

In the meantime, they’ve relocated to Downtown New West, renting a space with their work income and holding on to the money of their sale while they find something they want. Since moving Downtown, they’ve been able to fill in some of the gaps in their needs.

“I was cooking something the other day, and I forgot something. I was able to call to my wife and say, ‘Hey, can you run out to the store? I need a knob of ginger and more oil.’ It’s something we can do, and it’s done in five, 10 minutes. And we found where we were in Brow of the Hill is certainly walkable, but here, it’s a whole level of, I’m literally 10 minutes to everything on foot. Not even on transit.”

Singh considers himself fortunate to be living in an interesting city, noting some of the conversations he’s had with friends who have moved out of New West.

“They still talk about New West fondly. They still miss the walkability of New West. Even talking about politics, they miss how engaged the community is,” he explains.

Long-term renters

Both Amanda Siebert and Kevin Schwantje like the places they currently rent.

Siebert, a published author and a freelancer, previously lived in a basement suite in Queensborough. Today, she shares a space Uptown with her partner and her Pit Bull.

“[New West is] super dog-friendly. Having a dog, that sometimes has a negative stereotype associated with it…I can’t live in Burnaby or Richmond because these are two cities that have bylaws against my dog,” says Siebert, who says her neighbours are extremely accepting of her pup.

“I’ve lived in the same building [since] 2016, so it’ll be six years in December and I’m lucky that my landlords, they also have pets. So they specifically, when they were seeking out renters, said to us, ‘We’re only looking for people who do have animals,’ which—that doesn’t exist."

As a renter, she feels she’s overall in a good spot.

“Our rent hasn’t shot up really high. Now it’s sort of like, I would say lower than what the average is in the city. At the time when we started renting it was a little bit higher, but overall I’d say it’s a pretty easy process now that we have a place,” she says, adding that she definitely feels for those trying to find a rental in New West. “Every now and then I’ll pop on Craigslist just to see what’s available, and nine out of 10 times I’m like, ‘We’re fine.’”

While Siebert says she’s considered buying—which would probably mean moving out of New West—she’s not desperate to get into it.

“I recognize that this isn’t the same housing market my parents grew up in. My parents are people that moved here, have a lot of money and bought a house when it was really cheap in the 1980s, and somehow lucked out and were able to capitalize on real estate market enrichment. So I’m really like, ‘Well, that’s their existence and this is mine.’

Kevin Schwantje has the same idea.

“When I was growing up, my grandparents—my mom’s side—lived on the Sunshine Coast. And they had, I think an acre property, which they’d bought in the early 50s for pennies.”

Schwantje says his grandfather was able to fix up most of the property, building the whole house from scratch and wiring in electricity. “They had a lawn bigger than the River Market, I swear, along with the forest in their yard, a forest that you can go on a hike through. And there’s a lot to be said about having that kind of space to live in, but not everyone wants that kind of space … some people may need it and that’s fine, but some people don’t need it and some people have different priorities.”

The now Downtown resident moved to New West after he realized he wouldn’t be able to afford living in Vancouver, and wasn’t interested in living in Burnaby or Coquitlam.

“I was looking at what would be a reasonable commute, what would be a reasonable location for working enrichment, mom’s in Ladner … and I landed on New West. I had never been in New West since I was a kid until I drove there after work one day to look at an apartment in January 2013,” he explains, adding that the first unit he lived in was about 700 square feet. He rented it for $880 a month, and left after the building flooded.

He loves his current apartment.

“I have never been able to afford to buy even though I’m a single person making a decent tech salary, which still isn’t enough. My mom’s a single retired teacher, so I don’t have any family wealth there,” says Schwantje, who adds that he’s not sure if he’s a renter by choice or because he has to be. “I think it’s a little bit of both to be 100% honest, because I know I could afford to buy elsewhere if I were to leave here, which I [won't] because New West is my home.”

He’s also hoping people stop looking down on renters—something he says he’s experienced living in the city.

“People think we’re transients who don’t care about our community, and I’ve tried through many of my efforts in the last 10 years to fight that … but I’m a renter through and through and will be for the foreseeable future.”

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Millennials of New West, where our interviewees talk about topics like access to schools, amenities, recreational opportunities, and mobility.