Surrey used to be a destination for newcomers. Some settlement experts say rising costs are changing that

Surrey, B.C., has long been an affordable alternative to Vancouver. It's also traditionally been an enclave for immigrants, many of them South Asian.

But as the affordable housing crisis deepens, some settlement workers and immigration experts say newcomers are moving further afield — and away from the services, communities and infrastructure that is there to support them. 

"They're being priced out of these historic cities where they felt a lot of safety," said Meheret Bisrat, senior manager of community development with DiverseCity Community Resources Society.

"I don't know what that will mean when they don't have some of those safety nets."

'People want to move to other areas'

Bisrat says places like Surrey and Delta have long been destination cities and offered cultural, social and religious inclusion for many minority groups. Many newcomers have felt more comfortable settling there, she says. 

But these days the clients Bisrat serves tell her they're having trouble finding two-bedroom suites for less than $2,600 per month. 

Surrey-based immigration consultant Raghbir Singh Bharowal says most of his clients are choosing to live further east in places like Chilliwack, or even in Okanagan cities like Vernon, Osoyoos and Penticton. 

"We have diversity [in Surrey]. We have community here, we have a lot of community support. But due to the expensiveness, people want to move to other areas," Bharowal said. 

Limited resources

Alberta and Saskatchewan are also attractive options, he says, because they are more affordable and make it easier for newcomers to obtain permanent residency. 

Bharowal says the main demographic that is still choosing Surrey is international students, because Metro Vancouver offers the most post-secondary institutions and younger newcomers are often more amenable to sharing accommodations and living in substandard conditions.

The latest census data confirms that more newcomers in B.C. are choosing to live outside Metro Vancouver.

Satwinder Bains, director of the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, BC., says newcomers have been moving further east for the past 15 years,  but the trend has recently escalated as affordable homes have become even harder to find.

"The housing crisis generally is intense. And it becomes more intense for people who are coming with limited resources, who still have to find gainful employment," Bains said. 

Nowhere to go

As a former settlement worker herself, Bains says staff once welcomed newcomers at the airport to help them find housing and services. Now, both newcomers and workers are frustrated by how little help can be provided.

"Settlement has become very complex, and more and more complex when the workers themselves have nowhere to send the people," she said.

Bains says areas like Abbotsford and Chilliwack do have settlement services as well, but they can't keep up with the shift in newcomers moving there instead of hubs like Surrey. 

For newcomers, the consequences of this shift include difficulty finding schools for their children, language barriers and additional stress trying to settle in and adapt to a new environment. 

"It's a demographic shift that's happening in Canada that we need to understand," she said. "We're not nimble enough to respond to it really quickly."

However, Bains says newcomers have long adapted to changing circumstances and do adapt to their new surroundings, eventually. 

And in an age of global information flow, potential immigrants who have yet to leave their home countries often learn from those already here and adjust their plans before their arrival, she adds, paving the way for new settlement areas.