At the time I was going through a housing nightmare and was running high on emotion. My plan was to convince Jeremy to restrict Airbnb to free up some units on the market. Tourism has been going down since 2019 and rents have been going up every year. Freeing up some supply for locals seemed straightforward to me.

I waited patiently as the 20 business owners around the room said their piece, slowly realizing I was the only renter there. When it finally got to me, I started by saying that I was a renter. I shared some of my struggles and mentioned that multiple elementary school teachers are living in RV situations. I later found out that one of these teachers was specifically sought out and given housing. I cannot help but wonder if that had to do with bringing their stories up so many times, and I am happy to hear their situation improved. The room was dead silent as I talked. I capped it off with a call to action: let’s restrict Airbnb.

Jeremy responded. He first looked around the room and told me this was a municipality issue, shovelling responsibility onto the muni. This is when I turned my look to Louise, the one who arranged the event and, to my knowledge, the most senior RMOW staff in the room. She was the one who gave the orientation I attended to get my Spirit Pass at Buffalo Bills. I found her charismatic during the orientation, and I felt she took me seriously when she saw the look in my eye. It was a mix of anger, frustration, and a lot of other things.

More business owners talked, and shout out to the Whistler Community Services rep who backed me up. She knows firsthand how bad things are, as food bank numbers have skyrocketed.

It finally came back around the room to Louise, who kicked it off. In a very serious tone she committed that on Monday they would talk seriously about the housing issue in town.

The RMOW did not make a blog recap of this brunch for whatever reason, and I felt more or less like nothing would be done. I said during the meeting, “people are suffering, there must be an emergency lever to pull or something.” I am glad that saying my piece resonated with some in the room, and Louise has written a letter in support of our current mission at the racket club.

Here is the preface to her letter:

“On behalf of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, I am writing to express our support for Beedie
Living’s proposed development at 4500 Northlands. The Whistler Chamber supports the rezoning of
the 4500 Northlands Development for market accommodation units and strongly recommends
prioritization of employee housing for the Community Amenity Contributions (CACs). We do not
believe that the allocation of CAC funds should delay the project any further. Now is the time to
move forward with the project so that the community can have the opportunity to benefit from the development.

Sincerely,
Louise Walker
LOUISE WALKER (she/her)
Executive Director
Whistler Chamber”

Read her full letter here.

Louise and WARU could not be more aligned on this issue, and we thank her for writing this important letter to the Mayor and Council. We also call on the Mayor and Council to make a deal as soon as possible and secure the vast majority of the CAC for renter housing. 

Sincerely, 

Sean Foster

Founder, Whistler Accommodation Renters Union

Whistler Runs on Workers, Not Shortcuts 10.23.25

LMIAs aren’t a solution to our labour crunch—they’re a crutch that masks low wages and scarce housing while the gap between managers and front-line staff keeps widening. 

Whistler runs on workers. That’s not a slogan. It’s the truth you see in every lift line, café, bus stop and clinic waiting room. Yet the people who keep this town moving are stuck in a loop that doesn’t add up: wages anchored to provincial medians, rents that belong to another planet, and a hiring system that leans on LMIAs as the easy button when businesses can’t fill shifts.

An LMIA is supposed to say no Canadian or permanent resident was available for the job. In practice it often becomes the workaround when wages and housing don’t match Whistler reality. If a room is two grand and the job pays what it did three years ago, of course locals pass. That isn’t laziness. That’s math. Bring in workers through the LMIA pipeline without addressing pay and beds and you just shift the pressure onto everyone, including the newcomers.

I keep hearing that the municipality “talked to business owners” and the message is always the same: there aren’t enough workers. I believe employers are struggling. I also believe talking isn’t policy. If you need foreign labour, you need Whistler-level wages and actual housing. No housing, no LMIA-dependent business model. Until we line those pieces up, LMIAs function like a scapegoat for not paying Canadians fairly and a trap for migrants who arrive into impossible conditions and lower the standards across the board.

There’s another piece we don’t like to say out loud. A recent Pique opinion column raised questions about payroll growth and manager pay while front-line workers tread water. Whether you agree with every example or not, the pattern rings familiar: the people closest to the public get priced out or burned out, while the top end is protected “for competitiveness.” That gap breeds resentment, churn and worse service for residents and guests. If we want trust, we need shared sacrifice and clear value for the dollars we spend.

A councillor told me the program is also about diversity. I value diversity. The truth is our workforce is already diverse. Walk through any staff housing, kitchen, clinic or bus depot and you’ll hear the world. Where diversity is thin is among the people who own the land and set the rents. If we’re serious about inclusion, let’s widen who can afford to live, own and stay here, not just who can be hired cheaply. Diversity without dignity is just optics.

Here’s what would move the needle. Tie business licences for LMIA-reliant employers to proof of code-compliant staff housing and a living wage pegged to Whistler costs, not a distant average. Publish a simple workers’ dashboard every quarter so everyone can see wages, rents, staff housing use and consultant spending. Protect all workers by banning recruitment fees in practice, not just on paper, and giving people safe ways to report bad actors. If the municipality wants to model fairness, put a targeted pause on top-tier raises unless a department can show better service or less consultant spend.

Whistler could be the most worker-friendly town in Canada. It starts with a basic deal: pay to local costs, provide decent housing, and tell the truth in public. Do that, and the so-called labour shortage looks a lot more like a solvable problem.

How Whistler Landlords Maximize Profits and What Renters Should Know | 10.13.25

In a resort town with scarce vacancies, many landlords fine-tune their earnings by engineering churn (kicking out tenants in bad faith). Fixed six-month terms keep units in the seasonal market; come November, “personal use” notices appear and long-term renters are out just as winter rates spike. Renovation pretexts (“renovictions”) pop up too—tenants are told major work is coming, only to see the unit re-listed at a higher price or on a short-term platform.

There’s softer overreach as well. Deposits get withheld over minor wear-and-tear. “Pet fees” or monthly surcharges are tacked on even when a lawful pet deposit already exists. Key/fob charges and vague “admin” fees slip into agreements. Some renters get pushed to sign “mutual agreement to end tenancy” forms under time pressure—surrendering leverage they didn’t know they had. *A lot of landlords hold their breath, hoping tenants don't know their rights, and often get away with the upper hand when they shouldn't. 

Why this happens: A legal annual increase rarely matches the jump a landlord can get by resetting to market. In a tight, seasonal market, moving is expensive—time off work, new deposits, higher winter prices—so many tenants don’t fight charges or unlawful clauses.

What to do: document everything; complete move-in/out condition reports; be wary of vacate clauses; don’t sign early-end forms under pressure; and challenge unlawful fees and deposit holds. If this sounds familiar, share your story with WARU. Real experiences power better enforcement, more purpose-built rentals, and year-round housing that puts people first.

If you have your own renter horror story, please submit it here.