Ask people that live in Whistler about finding a place to rent and you will be treated to a range of horror stories about the struggle to find a home.
"I’ve seen ads on Facebook and Craigslist with people looking for floor spaces, couches, and they are willing to pay $600 a month for stuff like that," said Karina Erhardt.
She said she had to move away to Squamish after three years of renting in Whistler.
According to the resort municipality’s current mayor, only 81 per cent of the local workers live in Whistler.
"We have such a hot real estate market that we are really detached from the market as far as what the people who live and work here can afford to pay," Jack Crompton said.
Crompton was joined Monday by MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country to announce a new 24-unit affordable housing building at 1020 Legacy Way.
"The federal government is investing $7.3 million in the construction of this beautiful four storey building," Goldsmith-Jones announced from the podium.
The building will be will provide 53 new rental beds for Whistler’s workforce according to the Whistler Housing Authority.
"The waitlist we have in our office for affordable rental housing units is close to a 1,000 households so the demand is very strong," added WHA general manager Marla Zucht.
There will be four studio, 13 one-bedroom and 7 two-bedroom units available for rent at below 30 per cent of the area’s median household income.
She said the building is a few months away from completion.
