Homeless

Olympic Couchsurfers

The 2010 Olympics are rapidly approaching; the February 12, 2010 opening ceremony is six months away, but it feels like it is only three months away. While it is only August, the available housing in Whistler has shrunk to a level that is normally seen in November when the ski/snowboard bums show up because they don’t want to waste any time or expense to pay for an extra month of rent before they find the fresh powder on the mountain.

This season, the situation has be exacerbated by property owners hoping to cash in on the Games. Many landlords are not renewing leases for the 2009/10 season in hopes of making some fast and hopefully big cash from visitors. I’ve seen properties listed for rent for as much as $20,000 per month. [Edit: here's one for $70,000 per month!]

The other problematic situation that has occurred because of the housing crunch are listing that have vacancies for one or two months in September and October because of the summer crowd moving out. Most of these vacancies will remain unfilled until the leases expire. Nobody arriving in their right mind would take one of these spots. If they did, they might have to move out of the BC lower mainland until the 2010 frenzy has died down in April.

The last unusual situation are landlords that are requiring their tenants to move out of their dwellings during the time of the Games – as seen in the above posting on Craigslist. This raises a few questions. Where will these people live? Couchsurfing may not be an option because every available couch and likely floor space will already be taken up by family, friends and long-lost acquaintances. Then there’s the 30,000 or so volunteers that will be rolling into town for the Games. Vancouver and Whistler will be bursting with homeless natives and visitors alike. Maybe Vancouver will go back to it’s roots and erect a tent city for the homeless.