Roof over wrong heads?
Kudos to the Whistler Housing Authority for providing below market "employee" ownership housing to people who have nothing to do with the Whistler economy, or whose hardships should be seriously scrutinized.
In the three cases I know about where people qualified for low cost Whistler employee housing ownership, one party never lived in Whistler to start with and still doesn't. One party owns a recreational condo in Maui, and the third party is actually a legitimate worker in the valley.
Oh well, the Whistler Housing Authority did save $10 a month by moving their website from a local web hosting company to a publicly owned Toronto based one — so I must give them fiscal credit for that.
So the issue is maintaining scrutiny over the owners of "employee housing" remains — good luck with that. It’s something that should be looked at and reviewed.
Also, how about revisiting the concept of property tax breaks for home owners who are actually providing suites to local employees since most of us don't even qualify for the basic home owners tax grant anymore?
Any comment from our illustrious council, the housing society or vocal
locals ?
Bruce MacDonald
Whistler
