I am new to the Whistler Housing Authority waitlist for affordable and secure housing, even though I have been here since the mid-’90s. I got talked into it, what can I say. After receiving an email regarding the rental rates for The Hemlocks, I am wondering who this new housing is really for. They should just, honestly, label it “childless couples only” housing because it is unattainable for a single, hourly worker or a single parent. The single-income people are the ones who need the most help in this town, not the dual-income families. So, good job helping the people who least need it? That can’t be the WHA’s mandate.
The minimum rate for a one-bedroom is $1,850, regardless of income, or if you have a car, $1,910*. Add hydro, renter’s insurance, internet, and paying for every load of laundry makes it more like $2,200, if you’re not too dirty. A minimum-wage earner who can manage to get 40 hours a week regularly, in spite of the seasonal fluctuations of labour needs, would bring home just under $3,000 a month before tax. So, more like $2,300. Add transportation and you’re at the break-even point. And you haven’t even eaten yet or paid for your phone or a modest social life. These apartments can only be afforded by twosomes with two full incomes. I can’t help but wonder if this was deliberately done to maximize the density and revenues for the building. Regardless of intent, mission accomplished!
And it’s two people only in a one-bedroom apartment, so you couples better not get pregnant. If you don’t break up, like most couples do, and you find yourselves taking your relationship to another level by breeding, intentionally or not, then you better make sure you have other housing arranged.
And there’s also a one-pet policy, so if you happen to have two pets already and are not willing to Sophie’s Choice one of them off to Whistler Animals Galore, look elsewhere.
This one baffles me. Seems like something to avoid, rather than embrace, and a very strange model for community housing, ignoring the most vulnerable.
Michelene Skakoon // Whistler
*Editor’s note: WHA’s rental rates primarily operate on a rent-geared-to-income model, with rates based on 30 per cent of a household’s gross income. Each WHA rental building sets a minimum and maximum rate, depending on unit type. Prices range all the way from $915/month for a studio to $3,846 for a three-bedroom apartment. According to the WHA, the average price range in The Hemlocks is $1,450 to $3,327.
