'There is a severe shortage of affordable rental housing'
Hospitality employers in British Columbia are doing more head scratching these days thanks to the housing and labour shortages in the country.
Some hotels and resorts on Vancouver Island and elsewhere in the province are putting temporary foreign workers up in rooms in hopes of having enough staff through the summer season, according to a report.
“I can tell you, the last two to three years, there are many hotels around the province that are taking significant numbers of their hotel room inventory and housing people,” Ingrid Jarrett, president of the B.C. Hotel Association, said in a report from Pique News Magazine.
This applies to all types of employees at a hotel, she said.
“We have a housing shortage in B.C. in all areas of the province,” Jarrett said. “It doesn’t matter if you are in Fort St. John, if you’re in Kelowna, if you’re in Victoria. It is not just resort communities. There is a severe shortage of affordable rental housing.”
Between 2020 and 2021, there were 8,665 people identified as homeless in B.C., including 222 children under the age of 19 who were accompanied by a parent or guardian, according to a report from Vancouver is Awesome.
“We have a housing shortage in B.C. in all areas of the province,” Jarrett said.
“It doesn’t matter if you are in Fort St. John, if you’re in Kelowna, if you’re in Victoria. It is not just resort communities. There is a severe shortage of affordable rental housing.”
'Undercount'
That, however, may be well below the actual number, said Stephen D’Souza, of the Homelessness Services Association of B.C., in the report.
“It is an undercount — it is a snapshot of the day of really the minimum number of people who are experiencing homelessness on that day,” he said.
“We know the homeless journey isn't always a straight line, and that people are couch surfing, staying with friends, staying with family and may be in something more secure right now in terms of housing, but weren't before and may not be in the future.”
Recently, Nova Scotia announced it is investing $12 million to provide more modular housing for healthcare workers and skilled tradespeople in communities where housing options are limited.
Labour shortage
The housing shortage is another problem for the BC hospitality sector that has been dealing with talent shortages for years, even before the pandemic, according to the Pique News Magazine report.
B.C. has as many as 50,000 job vacancies in tourism and hospitality, according to a report from BIV released in February. And federally, there’s a shortage of 300,000 workers.
“We are thousands of people short and have been for many years,” Jarrett said. “It really is fuelled by the retirement of the baby boomers and the lack of youth coming into B.C. and to Canada. “We share this challenge with many other industries.”
Looking to fill job vacancies, B.C.’s hospitality sector is now offering high-school programs and other training programs, and working with the provincial and federal governments to smooth access for those immigrating to Canada, according to the Pique News Magazine report.
Previously, B.C. announced changes to the BC Provincial Nomination Program (BC PNP).
