The small Vancouver Island community of Duncan is struggling to find housing solutions for people living in RVs as some of them face triple rent increases and restrictions on where to park.
While RVs are generally more affordable places to live, they are subject to Cowichan Valley city ordinances that do not allow them to be parked on city streets, in backyards, or in parking lots.
Living in an RV park offers some stability, but park owners don’t have to comply with provincially regulated rent increases.
Carolyn Lawson experienced this firsthand when her monthly rent at Riverside RV & Camping went from $500 to $1,200.
“I have two incomes that are not even close to what I would need to survive and stay here,” she said. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking for me to have to go.”
Carolyn Lawson is a retired truck driver and factory worker who has lived at Riverside RV & Camping in the Cowichan Valley for almost five years. (CHEK News)
Duncan’s United Church minister says dozens of others are in similar situations.
“There are a lot of people in our area, in the Cowichan Valley, who live in RVs and vans and they don’t have a place to plug in or plug in because the other RV parks have already done substantially what the headquarters,” Keith Simmonds told Gregor Craigie. host of CBC’s On The Island.
It’s a catch-22 for RVers: They can’t afford to pay rent at RV parks and aren’t allowed to park their RVs anywhere else.
According to Duncan’s mayor, the ordinance banning recreational vehicle parking is complaint-driven, which means bylaw enforcers aren’t looking for people to tell them to move on. But it makes RV housing an unstable housing option.
“If someone sees someone else living in an RV, they file a report and then law enforcement moves them,” Simmonds said.
Duncan Mayor Michelle Staples says similar bylaws are standard practice in most municipalities because of safety, sewage and lack of hookups.
Simmonds recently proposed that Duncan city council could allow churches to host RVs in their parking lots and give users access to church facilities and connections.
“They’ve asked their staff to go out and find out what councils can do to respond to this appropriately,” he said.
For Staples, the changes have to happen at the regional level. That’s why Duncan city council recently met with their counterparts in North Cowichan Township.
“We need to do this more broadly in our region because it’s not just affecting our city,” he said. “We need to have partnerships to address this.”
Meanwhile, he’s watching as the city of Canmore, Alta., nears the end of a year-long seasonal parking pilot program. The Safe Park program issued permits on a first-come, first-served basis to people living in their vehicles between June 1 and September 30.
Hear Keith Simmonds talk about why the City of Duncan needs a solution for RVers:
On the Island 11:18 With daily rent tripling, a group of RV dwellers in Duncan face an uncertain future. We will talk to a local church minister who is helping those struggling with this housing insecurity.
Gregor Craigie spoke to Keith Simmonds, minister of the United Church of Duncan, who supports RV dwellers in the Cowichan Valley.