Editor:
My husband and I have a legal B&B, for which we renovated part of our home. We are in Selma Park, in the District of Sechelt. We are always there when there are guests. Airbnb is our only platform, other than word of mouth. We are both in our late 60s, and our expenses have gone up dramatically, with continuing family responsibilities, a mortgage that will be a forever thing, and, as is everyone’s story, the costs of survival. Airbnb makes our financial risk minimal, as they charge us only three per cent, and keep the guests and their credit cards one step removed from us.
We started doing Airbnb after we took a short holiday and stayed with people like us – in their homes, in a guest room.
Tourism is a money-maker for the Coast. Guests from all over the world get to regenerate and rest here. We have had cyclists from Oregon, paleo squash players, New Zealand folk attending the writers’ festival. They buy meals, rent kayaks and attend cultural events. They can learn about how Indigenous Peoples are at the core of coastal B.C., and how we work together to protect our waters and shores. Our guests recycle and often save shower water when the summer dry season takes hold, just like we do.
Housing is an area that has been seriously neglected as a social right of citizens of our country, and the responsibility of the province and the federal government. Our area provides some housing, through Habitat for Humanity. Progressive community building needs more encouragement by local governments, such as in the case of Sechelt Sustainable Community. There would be accessible housing, age-in-place homes, gardens, a school, and recycling, water and waste would be integral to the design.
Guests love to stay with us, and feel the hospitality that the Sunshine Coast needs to be known for.
Deanne Mineau and Geordie Colvin, Cedar View BnB, Sechelt
