When Hegel James’ lease expired this fall, the local chef visited a rental property in Bayshores prepared to sign his name on the dotted line if the space suited his needs. The landlord was even willing to turn over the key right then and there—just as soon as James forked over the rent money. Sensing something was amiss, James asked to try the keys. They didn’t work.
“It’s hard because sometimes they have the room and you can see the room, but after that they want the pay immediately. The room exists but after that they don’t talk to you anymore,” said the Mexican national and Whistler resident of four years.
A spokesperson for the Whistler RCMP noted there has been an increase in reported housing scams over the past year, but was unable to say by how much or whether there has been a corresponding rise in in-person scams, similar to what James described, without further analysis of the files.
“We see a variety of frauds/scams being reported in Whistler, including short-term and long-term rentals/housing, romance fraud, crypto investment scams, and Canada Revenue Agency fraud (to name a few),” Sea to Sky RCMP Cpl. Katrina Boehmer wrote in an email.
The scams are another consequence of a notoriously competitive market that is pushing prospective renters to arrive earlier in the year than ever before to secure housing ahead of the winter.
“Now there are so many challenges and scams related to the market that people are having to come earlier to secure safe housing,” said Jackie Dickinson, executive director of the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS), who noted that instead of early fall, she’s hearing from clients who arrived in town in late summer, not comfortable with arranging housing online before they land here. “That might not line up with their employment, which leaves them in vulnerable positions.”
Stats from the social service provider and operator of the local food bank bear that out. November was another record-breaking month for the Whistler Food Bank, with 2,262 visits, up 35 per cent from the same period last year. While reasons for using the food bank vary, Dickinson said injury and illness used to top the list; now, the top two reasons are underemployment and a lack of affordable housing. Roughly 60 per cent of local food bank users now report spending more than 60 per cent of their income on housing. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation recommends spending no more than 32 per cent of your average pre-tax monthly income on housing.
Although Whistler’s seasonal workforce—young, international, and often unfamiliar with local tenancy laws—are typically among the most vulnerable when it comes to housing, Dickinson said the lack of availability, employment and rising costs are forcing renters across the economic spectrum into compromised situations.
“We are definitely hearing about the state of the housing people find themselves in, and this could be anyone, whether they’re spending multiple thousands of dollars on rent or not,” she said. “We hear lots of stories of people dealing with unsafe situations, like mould or other conditions.”
WCSS’ Emergency Housing Program is also seeing increased demand. Providing access to temporary housing at no cost based on financial needs, emergency situations, and extenuating circumstances, WCSS is likely to surpass the program’s $20,000 budget less than three quarters into its fiscal year, Dickinson said.
While there’s ample competition for rental units at the lower end of the market, the same can’t be said for Whistler’s luxury housing. Ben Thomas, founder and owner of VIP Mountain Holidays, said with bookings way down after a poor snow year and affordability concerns at the fore, clients are less willing to put their homes on the vacation rental market, instead looking for long-term tenants.
“We have landlords that would like to rent to various executive families, but the demand is not there anymore. Some might consider renting to seasonal workers, but the price gap is the issue. These are very nice homes, not the same as those on Eagle Drive,” he said. “Then you’ve got local families with a max budget of $3,000 a month, which is reasonable, but people don’t want to rent for that. It’s just not enough. It’s a fundamental economic problem where there is supply, but a gap in the price point.”
Part of the drop in bookings, Thomas posited, is the changing demographics of Whistler Blackcomb’s (WB) customer base. With parent company Vail Resorts’ emphasis on its Epic Pass, the centrepiece of the Colorado company’s suite of pass products offering access to WB and 17 other ski areas, the average long-haul, destination skier is less inclined to make the trip to Whistler.
“Long-term loyal customers that have been coming to Whistler the past 15, 20 years, those guys have suddenly stopped coming. They have noticed Whistler has changed; costs are up and it’s no longer the same vibe of the resort they’ve grown to love,” Thomas said. “They have been replaced by Epic Pass holders, and by definition, Epic Pass holders are very fickle and wait to go where the snow is. We’ve found the booking window has really come down as we’ve switched to Epic Pass holders.”
Jen Biberdorf, administrator of the 44,000-member Whistler Housing Rentals for Locals Facebook group, said Whistler’s rental market this winter is largely similar to years past—“prices are high and availability is low.” But she has noted more availability than usual next door in Pemberton.
“There’s so much available still,” she said. “Normally Pemberton is a couple weeks behind when Whistler runs out of options, but there are still about a dozen rentals available here.”
Although she’s noted prices in Pemberton have risen, as they have in other rental markets, less competition, cheaper cost of living and relative quietude are enticing options for Whistlerites willing to make the move.
Unable to land a unit in the resort, James is one of those Whistlerites who has been pushed to Pemberton, where he’s crashing on a friend’s couch. He commutes to Whistler by bus for work.
“I‘m looking for something in Whistler, but I think I have more options in Pemberton. I think I’m going to stay in Pemberton. It’s just really hard to live in Pemberton when you work in Whistler,” he said.
The market challenges persist despite a raft of new staff housing coming online in recent years. Since 2018, the Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) has opened five new resident-restricted rental apartment buildings, bringing its inventory of non-market rental housing to 818 beds. Between ownership and rental, more than 7,300 Whistlerites live in below-market WHA housing.
The reimagined Whistler Valley Housing Society opened its own building in Cheakamus this summer. Called The Nest, it is the resort’s first affordable rental project that earmarked a portion of its units based on social need, with half of its 30 units allocated to social service providers, and the other half for eligible Whistler-based workers.
“I think that building is something to celebrate this year,” Dickinson said. “We were able to meet a lot of people and families in difficult circumstances and … it was really powerful to make referrals and have people housed there. It changes their whole mental health knowing they have safe housing.”
Check back with Pique in the coming weeks for more stories from the local housing market.
