H.O.M.E. TASK FORCE RESPONDS TO PUBLIC FORUM
Oct. 26, 2007 For Immediate Release
On September 18th, 2007 the Whistler Chamber of Commerce hosted a public Business Forum on seasonal employee housing. The following responses to questions raised by the public at the forum have been compiled by the H.O.M.E. Task Force.
Find Land Options in Whistler
The H.O.M.E. Task Force is looking at different land options within Whistler that may be able to accommodate temporary modular housing. At the same time we are assessing a price to have the temporary housing serviced (sewer water electricity, etc.). Business owners would then need to make the investment to provide this housing to their employees. Municipal tax breaks to increase supply?
A municipal tax incentive would have a limited effect on the tax paid by the landlord, while creating a severe shortfall for the Municipal budget. A subsidy of this nature would also be contrary to a policy that no taxpayer dollars be used to subsidize employee housing.
Mail outs to 2nd homeowners, included in Mayor’s note
We limit the Mayor's note to tax related information (i.e. how the taxes will be spent). The legal advice that the RMOW received was
clear that it should only be used for tax related information. Our lawyers suggest that doing this would be breaking privacy laws.
The H.O.M.E. Task Force has done a separate mail out using the Canada Post bulk mail out list.
Ways to subsidize transit? Developer funding?
Transit needs to be addressed with our partners in the corridor and the Province; it is not as simple as charging development fees to fund transit. The most effective way for employers to address the transit issue is to fund their employee’s bus pass or create car sharing programs. The Jack Bell Foundation, a carpooling program endorsed by the RMOW, offers a vanpool and carpool option. In addition, a new ride-matching program on the Jack Bell website at www.ride-share.com gives local employers the opportunity to register their business online and match their commuting employees up with a ride.
Employer funded shuttles/bus passes paid by employers
Employers can currently provide this to their employees.
Review Landlord-Tenant Act to better protect landlords
The H.O.M.E. Task Force is looking for a lawyer willing to donate time to this issue.
Would the WHA review its mandate to include provision of seasonal housing?
The Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the RMOW. The mandate of the WHA is to ensure fulfillment of the community priority to always house at least 75% of Whistler’s workforce within our community. According to the 2007 Employer Housing Needs Assessment 78% of Whistler’s peak season workforce during the 06/07 winter resided in Whistler.
Whistler benefits from the presence of 4,212 resident restricted beds. This means that, counting permanent residents and seasonal workers, roughly 1/3 of Whistler’s local population lives in residences created specifically for their use. After the delivery of the new Rainbow neighbourhood (+1,000 beds) and the Athletes Village (+1,000 beds) roughly half our population will live in this type of housing. Resident restriction covenants have a huge impact on affordability when compared to market rentals or market ownership. There is more to be done but, per capita, no other community in North America has done more to address affordable housing.
The business model of the WHA is based on a non-subsidized operation that produces and/or administers resident restricted housing, both for ownership and for rent. A large part of the resident restricted rental inventory has been produced by the private sector (1493 beds). Most of this is in the Whistler Blackcomb employee housing complex near Base 2 on Blackcomb. The balance of the rental stock (465 beds) has been developed and is managed by the WHA. The net proceeds from this price controlled rental program funds the WHA operations. No property tax money has ever been used to fund or subsidize the WHA operations. This practice is justifiably a source of pride in the WHA and directly contributes to the huge community support for our initiatives.
One interesting fact we have learned from our years of Employer Housing Needs surveys is that the inventory of resident occupied beds, both market and restricted, is quite fixed. For the past seven years our permanent population has remained just under 10,000 people. For these same seven years the beds in Whistler occupied by our workforce has stayed constant at 10,750 +/- 250. This means in slower economic years like 2003 to 2005, when businesses are hiring less staff, we experience an adequate supply of rental housing. In busier years, like 1999 to 2002, we experience an increase in hiring needs and a subsequent shortage of rentals. We can see that anecdotally, as the rental horror stories come out and as Pemberton and Squamish experience booming rental demand and, accordingly, set higher prices. Our current strong economy, compounded by Olympic related demands on beds, has brought us back to very challenging times.
We have come to clearly understand that every NEW bed of resident restricted housing we produce relieves pressure on the whole system. A new resident restricted house in Rainbow will have a direct trickle-down effect on creating better availability for suites to rent in market housing. Understanding this, plus the un-subsidized nature of our operation, has caused the WHA to focus on producing resident restricted beds for permanent use, both for ownership and rental.
Would the WHA be prepared to provide seasonal housing in permanent buildings?
In today’s world, building rental housing is not economically viable. The cost of land, materials and labour render these projects unfeasible. The complete absence of the private sector initiating these types of new projects, in any community across the land, lends testament to this fact.
Despite this challenge, the WHA is undertaking construction of a new rental building in the Athletes’ Village. Thanks to Olympic support, we are able to benefit from free, serviced land to build on. In July 2010 the WHA will assume possession of a rental building comprised of 40 compact studio suites and 15 one bedroom apartments. These will be dedicated to providing affordable year round accommodations for rent.
Even though we benefited from free serviced land to start with, the economic model for this project is challenging. In round numbers, the building will cost $7M to build. This will be funded by $3M in cash, a $3M mortgage and a special $1M grant from the RMOW. This grant is coming from an existing budget item in the RMOW’s 5 year financial plan, a part of the proceeds from our new hotel tax financial tools. $2M a year for 5 years has been set aside from this new revenue source to contribute towards affordability initiatives. $8M of this $10M has long been a necessary part of the financial plan to produce permanent housing in the Athletes’ Village, leaving a lasting social legacy for Whistler. Half of the remaining $2M has been approved by council to go towards the new WHA rental building.
To build permanent housing focused on seasonal workers is an even more challenging task. As WhistlerBlackcomb can testify, the economics of this type of housing do not work. It can only be undertaken with a dedicated, ongoing subsidy, willingly recognized by the business as a necessary cost of doing business.
The undeveloped lands associated with our Olympic legacy will be available to the community after the games, already dedicated to resident housing use. A seasonal worker focused rental project could be considered for some of these lands, but it would only be viable with substantial direct financial support from the business community.
Due to the economic realities we have to work with, and the fact that every NEW resident restricted bed improves availability and affordability for all “local” use beds, the WHA will continue to focus on producing new resident restricted units for local ownership and rentals.
With Rainbow and the Athletes’ Village producing almost a 50% growth in our resident restricted inventory, coupled with reduced demand relating to the Olympics, it is anticipated that post-games we will have significantly addressed our housing challenge. With a large inventory of undeveloped community-owned land remaining to address future needs, we may have wrestled this beast to the ground.
The biggest challenge we face is coping with the lack of housing for our workforce from now until the spring of 2010. The WHA and the Whistler Chamber of Commerce are working hard to come up with creative strategies to address this challenge. We are encouraging the RMOW and the business community to work together to develop and deliver solutions to address this serious need.
Why not allow businesses to purchase WHA homes?
There are two main types of resident restricted ownership developments. One type additionally has price controls, the other is only restricted as to resident use. Businesses are currently able to buy the non-price controlled units (730 beds) for staff housing use. These units tend to be more expensive than the price controlled product, but are still below market housing prices.
In the price controlled units (1524 beds) the intention is to create neighbourhoods of locally owned and occupied homes. Covenants attached to the land not only restrict price increases but also encourage occupancy by the owners. This precludes ownership by businesses for staff housing. Allowing businesses to buy into these projects would not increase the available beds for residents, therefore not relieving the challenge facing our community in the near to medium term.
There may well be opportunities in Rainbow and the Athletes’ Village for businesses to purchase housing. This has not been resolved yet. In the past it was tried at the apartment building in 19 Mile Creek. Only two businesses stepped forward to buy units, of which one has subsequently sold to owner/occupiers.
There are two main reasons for a business to purchase staff housing. One is to provide surety of housing for the business’ employment needs. If the community is willing, and able, to address the shortage of housing on a community-wide basis this need is significantly reduced. Three or four years from now this challenge may well be met. It is the next three winters that promise a lot of pain.
The second reason would be as an investment for the business. Our price controlled units have sale price ceilings based on the Core Consumer Price Index, essentially increasing only at the rate of inflation. This is not a high yielding financial investment. The non-price controlled resident restricted units are more influenced by market conditions of supply and demand. Historically, they have appreciated at a greater rate than inflation and may be a better financial investment. |
