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& COVID-19

Housing

High Rent, Low Reward

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To add to the financial uncertainty and mental health issues resort towns face, the price of housing has been steadily increasing, creating another barrier resort employees must face to “living the dream.” 

 

Although ski resorts often provide housing, it is usually shared accommodation without enough space for all staff to have a room, and the pandemic has strained this issue further. 

 

Winston Fadeeff has experienced the struggle of finding affordable housing in many resort towns. For a few winters, he worked at Castle Mountain Resort, a remote resort in southern Alberta. He says that despite having 100 to 130 staff members, the resort only provides beds for 40 staff members. A large portion of the remaining staff lives in trailers.

 

“Living in a fifth wheel with no water and only a tiny camping propane heater to keep you warm all winter is pretty hard on your mental health,” he explains. During the winter months, temperatures can drop below -35°C at night. 

 

Vancouver-based Indra Hayre, the founder of Incluskivity, an organization that promotes inclusivity within the ski industry, says that generational wealth has a part to play in who can afford to live in these resort towns. 

 

“Either you're cramming yourself into these tiny spaces, or you have the money and you have the privilege of being able to afford to live in these spaces,” explains Hayre. “A lot of people can afford to live there because their families have second homes.”

 

Hayre has never had the opportunity to experience this living situation. “I live in Vancouver. I can't afford to make minimum wage because I need to pay rent. It costs me $1,000 plus a month…living in Whistler and making a minimum wage job isn't even an option for me.”

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While housing prices have been increasing across Canada, it is especially expensive in resort towns. According to the Whistler Real Estate Company, a single-family home cost an average of $2.8 million in 2019, with the average price in 2020 expected to be around $3 million.  

 

Although most people don’t buy homes for their seasonal jobs, the cost of renting is still unaffordable because the high housing costs and popularity of short-term rentals influence the rental market rates. While working in Whistler, Fadeeff could not find affordable housing. Instead, he lived in nearby Pemberton.

 

“It was so expensive. We were always paycheck to paycheck, and we were risking our lives every single day on that really dangerous highway in between Pemberton and Whistler,” he says.

 

Hayre has also heard of similar experiences of people trying to afford to live in Whistler.

 

“It's so expensive. To make it affordable, people are cramming themselves into shared bedrooms and being full-grown adults sleeping in bunk beds,” she explains. 

Photo provided by: Winston Fadeeff

Winston Fadeeff getting some air on a technical route.

It's so expensive. To make it affordable, people are cramming themselves into shared bedrooms and being full-grown adults sleeping in bunk beds.

~Indra Hayre

These issues have since been accentuated by the ongoing pandemic, with multiple resident accommodations proving to be an increasing source of burden and stress. Jackie Dickinson, executive director of the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS), explains the risks and tolls on one's mental health to live in such situations. 

 

“Well, if you're living in a house with 15 people that you don't know, you don't share the same values, there's not that same common ground,” explains Dickinson. 

 

“That's only the group of people, according to the public health order, you're supposed to spend time with. That can greatly impact your mental health.”

 

The pandemic has sparked conversations and dialogues in resort communities throughout B.C. and Alberta about the suitability of high-density housing. 

 

“Now they're even more at the top of our conversations because when we look at a surge in cases in resort communities, it's linked to primarily a younger demographic that work front line and a younger demographic that also live in high-density housing,” says Dickinson. 

 

Rather than focusing on the fact that cases have spiked in the younger population in high-density housing, Dickinson would like to remove the stigma associated with it and highlight the need for everyone to do their part. 

 

“There is a responsibility of people, of all demographics, to do their part while still recognizing why this population is so much more exposed,” she says.

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Wages

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