Whistler struggles to build homes for town’s workers
WHISTLER As Whistler’s mayor for more than seven years, Nancy Wilhelm-Morden has always been aware of the importance of housing for the resort.
When she arrived in Whistler in the 1970s with the man who would become her husband, housing was so limited that they squatted for four years before they could find a place to live.
Today, she knows some work two or three jobs to pay to live in one of the world’s top resorts.
For Wilhelm-Morden, addressing housing has been a big part of her career as a Whistler politician.
After 17 years in elected office during different periods, Wilhelm-Morden is not seeking re-election in the municipal vote on Oct. 20.
She agrees that housing continues to be on everyone’s mind in Whistler.
“I don’t know if it is a big issue for the election,” she said. “I know it’s a big issue in the community.”
You don’t have to look far to find numerous examples of its importance in the four-season resort. So far this year, municipal bylaw officers have issued 731 tickets to people living in their vehicles. That’s more than double the 341 tickets issued to people living in vehicles in 2017. The fine was recently increased from $75 to $100.
In mid-September, an illegal campsite was removed a short walking distance from hotels where international tourists can pay $1,000 or more a night for rooms during winter.
As many as 12 tents were on an island in Fitzsimmons Creek between the skateboard park and the Upper Village, said Adrian Moran, co-owner of 50 North Exterior Property Detailing, which was contracted by the resort to clear the illegal camp.
In the Pique, he said the campsite had been purposely hidden from prying eyes.
He told Postmedia News that enough garbage was removed to fill three trucks, or about 1,000 pounds.
Much to his surprise, the camp even had a sofa bed.
“I don’t know how the hell they got it up the river,” he said by phone. “We had to cut it up with saws to get it out of there.”
Moran said it was by far the biggest of four illegal camps his company had removed for the municipality this year. At the other sites, Moran found resumes, work uniforms and name tags, which indicate at least some of the people living in the camps were Whistler employees.
Like many in Whistler, Moran has heard the stories of 20 and more people living together in a house.
He considers himself fortunate to pay $4,000 for a four-bedroom condo for his family.
Yet as much as he understands the challenges of finding accommodation in Whistler, he said he’s never seen anything as bad as what he cleared up by Fitzsimmons Creek. There were thousands of cigarette butts on the ground, broken bottles and empty food cans. One tent had been turned into a big dumpster filled to the brim with rotting food. “This was particularly bad for putting everyone at risk with fires and animals with food everywhere,” he said. “It was disgusting.”
Wilhelm-Morden said more tickets issued for people living in their cars and for illegal camping are due to both an increase in the number of municipal bylaw officers and in complaints from the public. She said tickets written for people living in vehicles also includes people parking their recreational vehicles in neighbourhoods rather than in campgrounds.
The municipality doesn’t want people camping illegally because they don’t have proper toilet facilities, she said. As well, improperly discarded food scraps attract wildlife at the campsites.
As Whistler enforces rules on what it considers illegal housing, the municipality plans to add significantly to its stock of accommodation for residents, including units restricted to employees overseen by the Whistler Housing Authority, which is owned by the municipality. The WHA’s 2,034 units provide housing for about 6,500 employees and their families.
Earlier in September, Whistler council continued the rezoning process for five private-sector projects for employees. Although some have generated significant public opposition, including one at the entrance to White Gold Estates at the intersection of Highway 99 and Nancy Greene Drive, the projects could provide rental accommodation for almost 700 people.
One project is by Vail Resorts, which operates Whistler Blackcomb. It announced plans to build 200 dorm-style units for its staff in its housing complex within walking distance of Excalibur Gondola. And on Oct. 1, the resort is holding an open house at Westin Resort and Spa regarding Cheakamus Crossing Phase 2. Planned over several years, the project is designed to add employee-restricted housing for 550 people on land left as a legacy of the Athletes’ Village for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Other plans include increased enforcement of illegal Airbnb rentals in neighbourhoods, which is designed to both increase the rental supply for employees and to force tourists into renting suites in the village. Whistler also plans to add more rental space through Home Run, a program that links private owners of vacant homes with businesses to house staff.
One of the housing accomplishments Wilhelm-Morden speaks of with pride is the WHA, which provides accommodation for about 75 per cent of the resort’s workforce.
In 1997, Wilhelm-Morden was part of a fact-finding mission to Vail, Breckenridge and Aspen to see how the Colorado ski resorts provided housing for employees. Wilhelm-Morden was surprised by what she found. Aspen was so expensive for families that it took her three days before she saw a child.
“We came back and said: ‘We can’t let this happen to Whistler,’” she said. “We can’t have our community not living in our town and driving to work from Squamish and Pemberton.”
With $6 million accumulated in development levies, the WHA developed just under 800 units of employee housing in its first few years, according to a history of the authority.
The WHA, created with no money from taxpayers, is designed to be completely self-funding.
Wilhelm-Morden said she recognizes that Whistler can never build enough housing to satisfy all its needs.
“We are making significant progress on an issue that has been a serious concern to the community for some time,” she said in the Whistler neighbourhood of Nesters. “We’ve accomplished a lot while I’ve been mayor. It’s always nice to leave on a high note rather than being shown the door.”