There’s a real mystique to life in Tofino, isn’t there? The stormy sea. The wilderness. The tight-knit community.
That is, if you can find a place to live.
Housing has been a problem in town for a long time. But the population has increased in recent years. So has the cost of property and rentals. It’s made a tricky situation even trickier.
Jay Gildenhuys has been watching the housing situation evolve for the last ten years. He owns Shed and Shelter, two popular restaurants on the town’s main drag.
He’d come to Tofino years before. You can probably picture it—a young philosophy student heads to Tofino for the lifestyle and lives on the ocean in his Volkswagen camper van. And after finishing school and running a few successful businesses in Victoria, he wanted to contribute to that lifestyle himself.
“You’re coming up here knowing that you’ll have to work a lot in the summer and less in the winter,” he said, “You want to embrace the outdoors or small village lifestyle.”
So he moved back to Tofino to set up the restaurants. He always knew that affordable, community-minded housing for restaurant staff would be part of the complete package. “The whole idea is to feel really good about the staff accommodation, to have it match the culture we foster with the restaurant.”
But landing the right property would take time. So he waited. And he watched as the housing landscape shifted over a decade.
And then he saw an opportunity at the Crab Apple Campground. “This was just the perfect match,” he said. Some of Shed and Shelter‘s staff already lived at the campground. So did a lot of folks who worked at friends’ businesses in the area.
The site had a great vibe. But it had survived on temporary use permits that the Town of Tofino was getting less excited to give out. The campground needed some repair and a stable plan for the future.
After some discussion with the former owner, Gildenhuys bought the property and secured another three-year temporary use permit from the town. That’s enough time to work with the town to turn the campground into something more permanent.
The folks who lived there were allowed to stay, and the rent didn’t go up. But as current residents move on, staff from Shed and Shelter will get first dibs on camper vans and sites.
“That whole dream of moving to Tofino, some people want to live in a small cabin,” Gildenhuys said. “A lot of people love the idea of living in a more community type situation and it fits the Tofino lifestyle.”
At Crab Apple, folks who live there often work with their neighbours. They can come home after a shift and hang out by the communal fire pit. It’s a fun and supportive environment.
“I’m feeling very optimistic,” he said. “I want to build the most kickass place so that when people are thinking about working in Tofino, they’re excited about working in this restaurant and living in that place.”
The ultimate goal is to provide housing for the community that aligns with the official community plan.
“We’re in it for the long game,” he said. “Part of that is having housing we can count on.”
