DEPARTURE FROM THE MEAN
Young Vancouverites can’t afford houses, so many are moving to homes on the water
Lisa Raitt’s civility stood out, maybe more than it should have.
When Angela Johnson welcomes visitors to her living room, she stores her laptop in the oven.
“This is where I keep it,” she said, laughing as her cat Dima followed her from the kitchen back to the couch — a distance of only a couple of feet.
It’s about the space between the bow and the stern.
Johnson lives aboard Caribou, a 450square-foot, two-floor floating home that used to have a motor, and is now docked permanently in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour. The single geologist bought the home two years ago, after a search for one on land proved out of her budget.
“I walked on the place and fell in love with it,” she said in an interview. “I thought the whole idea of a floating home was really cool, different, unique.”
The space is small, but Johnson has found a place for everything she needs. She keeps her bikes mounted to the side of the house, and Dima has free roam of two floors and a sunny rooftop patio.
“I don’t know if it’s super-functional for a very tall person,” Johnson said, referring to the approximately five-foot ceiling on the second level. “But it’s super-functional for me. What more could I really ask for?’”
Floating home communities have been fixtures of the lower mainland for decades — with ‘live-aboard’ residents making homes in marinas from Ladner and Richmond to North Vancouver. Downtown Vancouver, people live on the water in the Coal Harbour marina, where Johnson lives, and at Granville Island.
But as the cost of owning a home in Vancouver has swelled, living on the water is an option more and more people like Johnson are considering.
That’s according to a realtor who has specialized in selling homes on the water for the last 18 years — almost half of her 42-year career in real estate.
Judy Ross happened to sell a couple of float homes almost two decades ago, and got swept away by the watery lifestyle.
“Being on the water and the movement and everything, you have a different sense than when you’re in a condo or anywhere else,” she said. Ducks, seals, and otters are part of the deal in practically every marina.
Since Ross started selling, interest in the homes has grown. In 2013 she was the exclusive realtor for a brand-new development of float homes close to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, where she lived herself for some time. (She plans to move back soon.)
Since the development went up, Ross said the homes have tripled in value.
But it’s only within the last year she’s noticed a major increase in inquiries — especially from single people, and couples looking to downsize.
“All sorts of people who maybe never
“Being on the water and the movement and everything, you have a different sense than when you’re in a condo.” ANGELA JOHNSON HOUSEBOAT OWNER
would have thought of float-home living, they’ve seen a listing, they’ve gone to my website,” she said. “I’m certain it’s a direct result of the skyrocketing prices and lack of places to live that are affordable.”
That was exactly the case for Johnson, who bought Caribou for $279,000. She pays a monthly mortgage and moorage fees (to keep the home docked in Coal Harbour) that she calls reasonable.
She’s selling the home now, but only because she plans to go back to school.
“Initially, I was like, ‘Oh, what have I done?’ I really loved it, though,” she said. “My favourite part is the community within the marina here.”
Her neighbours include a former bard ship pilot and a ghost writer who feeds Johnson’s cat when she’s away. The ‘liveaboards’ at Coal Harbour do monthly dinners together, and watch out for one another.
There’s also a provincewide organization that advocates for the floating lifestyle. Ross sees floating as a potential way to add more relatively affordable housing to the province.
“Why not? We have lots of water,” she said. “I’d like to see our municipal governments open up more opportunities for float home marinas.”
In a province where struggles with affordable housing seem endless, floating could be “Not a total solution, but certainly a part of the solution,” Ross said.