People live like this because there is often no other option if they want the privilege of living in Jasper. There is no other retreat.
Classified ads for house or apartment rentals rarely, if ever, grace the pages of the Fitzhugh. In fact, they rarely even make it to the Jasper Buy, Sell and Trade Facebook page. And when they do get posted, the person on the other end is inundated with phone calls, emails and comments long after they’ve rented the place out.
So renters have resorted to putting out pleas, begging for anyone with a spare space to contact them. There have been creative posters on bulletin boards around town and there have been people offering to pay extra, just so they can live and work in our town.
Jasper has an amazing draw. People from far and wide visit or move here each year, just to experience the mountain lifestyle, and we as a community depend on those people. We depend on them to run our businesses and to frequent them.
And, after a season or two or three, we depend on them to go home and talk about the amazing little Rocky Mountain town that everyone must see.
But, if they can’t find a place to lay their head when they arrive, we don’t give them the opportunity to do any of those things. We’re basically kicking them out the door before they’ve even had a chance to look around. We put a bad taste in their mouth and send them off to a location with places to live, leaving our businesses in a bind and losing that word of mouth promotion.
Jasper can’t afford to keep this up. It’s not fair to the residents who put up with inadequate housing. It’s not fair to the newcomers who are forced to leave. And it’s not fair to the businesses that lose employees.
More housing needs to be built and it needs to be built tomorrow. The rental vacancy rate has been at zero per cent for at least 10 years. That’s 10 years too many. A housing study was done in 2002 and it showed imminent need for housing. Some have been built since then, like the Caribou Creek Co-ops, but those homes won’t even make a ripple in the rental housing market.
We need more apartments. We need more co-ops. We need more homes, period.
Jasper is in crisis. If it wasn’t the time to build 10 years ago, it is definitely the time now.
The businesses and agencies in town need to join forces to start jumping through Parks Canada’s development hoops, so the homes we need are built before another 10 years pass.
So, let’s get a move on.
Let’s build homes that will keep Jasperites in our town. Let’s build sanctuaries that will ensure those Jasperites are healthy and happy. And let’s put an end to this crisis once and for all.
