Last week’s Pique had a centralized theme that I picked up on. Housing, or lack thereof in our beautiful mountain town. Reading through the magazine I enjoyed the piece about Whistler in the ’90s and how squatting in homes was popular, especially along the Green River.
I found it ironic as I continued reading to see a piece regarding “illegal vehicle camping” near Whistler. A local resident calls for more enforcement of popular areas where this is happening. However, after learning about Whistler’s history and seeing the housing market matched with the median income of jobs in the village I am perplexed as to how the local resident thinks kicking out unhoused locals is a solution. Who will work in the restaurants you dine in, or stock the groceries at your local grocery store when even sleeping in a vehicle is no longer an option?
To me, more enforcement feels like a waste of taxpayers’ money. I understand the ecological concern over SOME van-lifers leaving trash outside and that it can be an eyesore. But isn’t the destruction of forests to build mansions and condos in Whistler also an ecological concern and an eyesore? There are already only so few places in the Sea to Sky corridor that one could sleep in their vehicle. Attempting to remove the last free camping in Whistler only further segregates the income gap.
I thank the editor of Pique Newsmagazine for placing the piece on federal housing beside this article. This is a step in the right direction.
I don’t know what the solution is here with the housing crisis, but I do know that polarization and enforcement will only bring us further apart.
