This Job Comes With A Season Pass and Lodging.

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Say you are managing a ski area and you have to find housing for 250 seasonal employees, or more, each winter. Where do you put them?

That’s the question ski areas in mountain towns everywhere are facing. In Vermont, where the unemployment rate often dips below 2.5% and the number of short-term rental units has nearly doubled in three years, the challenge is particularly acute. In 2015, just over 1,000 homes statewide were listed as short-term rentals, according to AirDNA. At the end of 2022, there were more than 11,000.

According to Foothold Technology, Vermont is now the fourth least-affordable state for renters and, its study shows, the average renter here earns $16 an hour. That means they need to work 1.4 jobs — more than just full time — to keep their housing costs at or below 30% of their income.

On top of that, in 2019, Vermont’s rental vacancy rate dropped to an all-time low of

3.4%, roughly half of what it had been in 2010. At the same time, the median rental rate crept up to $985.

“Housing has been an issue that we have been working through for years, but this year with our increase in pay we are reaching 100% staffing levels in most positions,” says Sugarbush Resort general manager John Hammond.” Minimum wage at Sugarbush is now $15 an hour. “With these high staffing levels and the reduction in the number of seasonal rentals available we are reaching a tipping point in being able to staff the resort,” Hammond said.

Currently Sugarbush Resort hires approximately 160 international seasonal employees, many whom come on the limitedtime J1 visa program, as well 50 domestic employees. Nearly all require housing during winter months. During the 2022/23 season, the resort housed 212 employees in various inns and lodges. In coming years, the resort