Affordable worker housing is latest tourist town business hurdle - BNN Bloomberg

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Businesses in tourist hotspots far from big cities are feeling the pinch of affordable housing, as smaller communities struggle to lure workers amid a labour crunch and rising rents.

When he opened Fish & Sips with his wife in 2015, Paul Feather found hiring to be one among many challenges of running a restaurant with long hours on the main drag of Collingwood, Ont.

His latest kitchen hire couldn't find a place in town and commutes by car — another hurdle when gas prices are soaring and regional public transit lags. Ontario cottage country was no exception. In Southern Georgian Bay, which includes Collingwood, the median price of a single-family home rose by nearly 28 per cent in 2021 from the previous year to $881,000, according to a Royal LePage report. Prices rose 49 per cent in Ontario's Muskoka region, 29 per cent in Quebec's Laurentians and 26 per cent in its Eastern Townships.

"The problem has been so bad this year that a lot of the employers reverted to buying campers to house their staff," said Colleen Kennedy, executive director of the Gros Morne Co-operating Association, which works with Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park. Others are scrambling to build or buy units for them.

Short-term rentals like those on Airbnb complicate matters, further reducing availability but also boosting tourism figures. Big employers like Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, the Sunshine Village ski resort and the Banff Centre offer some staff accommodation,"but they don't have enough," said Myles.

 

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