Imagine sharing a room and still spending almost half of your income on housing.
Well, welcome to Whistler -- where a huge proportion of lifties and hotel staff are struggling to find a place to stay, and paying through the nose for it.
"We know that we need to help these young people and that in turn is good for business and it's good for the town," said Whistler Councillor Rob Forsyth.
A new survey by the Whistler Chamber of Commerce shows housing is the most critical issue for the people working in Whistler.
With 14,000 workers here at the peak of the tourist season, there's only enough accommodation for about 10,000 people.
Forty-one per cent of people said they're sharing a room, while another 41 per cent said they were spending between 40 and 50 per cent of their income paying rent.
Some 71 per cent said finding affordable housing was their number one concern.
"It's impossible to find something and live here," said one worker, Jessica Kosta, to CTV News.
The biggest challenge facing Olympic organizers in Whistler is where to put the thousands of workers needed to build the dream.
A proposal to put these workers in the kind of containers we see at the Port of Vancouver goes before Whistler city council next week.
Unique, trendy, and stackable, the 250 units will be insulated and ventilated and placed on an empty lot -- and removed when the Olympics are over.
The Olympics poses a possible solution for the crunch. At least two hundred units being built here for athletes will revert to the Whistler Housing Authority for employees.
But that doesn't change the situation now, where tips and wages barely pay the rent.
