The ever-vexing topic of housing in Truckee/Tahoe, but make it winter edition.
This month, we reached out to a handful of ski resorts in the region to understand what steps they’re taking to house employees this winter season.
How is your ski resort providing employee housing this season?
Sugar Bowl provides housing for over 130 employees in four locations (Summit Haus, Donner Summit Lodge, Kingvale Lodge, and Village Dorms) around the Donner Summit. Employee housing is available as dorm style and apartment style so that employees have options when choosing where to live. Sugar Bowl has made huge upgrades to the employee housing, including installing a microwave/mini fridge kitchenette unit in each dorm and renovating the interior flooring at many of our employee housing locations. The Kingvale Lodge was purchased in 2020 to be used for professional (supervisor/manager) and transitional housing.
~ Jon Slaughter, executive director of marketing at Sugar Bowl Resort
Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe does not have an employee housing program. We are fortunate that our close proximity to Reno tends to provide ample lodging options, not to mention that a large percentage of our employees are local and already have a residence.
~ Mike Pierce, marketing, Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe
This summer [Palisades Tahoe] purchased an 8-plex property in Kings Beach that will house up to 24 Palisades Tahoe team members.
[The resort] entered an agreement with a Tahoe Vista-based property that has 29 units and can accommodate 80 employees.
For our more rugged team members, after a successful pilot program last season, we are again partnering with the [U.S. Forest Service] to offer 23 sites at the Granite Flat campground on SR-89 to employees who are living the “van life.”
Palisades Tahoe owns and rents 13 apartment units in Olympic Valley for staff.
~ Patrick Lacey, public relations manager, Palisades Tahoe
Typically what you do is you try to find houses where you can rent for the season for employees, but that’s getting more and more difficult because of Airbnb and the popularity of Tahoe. It’s gotten very, very expensive. We’re always on the lookout for good housing situations for the employees, particularly for the younger kids that come in — we become almost their family. Around the holiday season … we’re picking dinners and getting everyone together. We’re really conscientious about the housing situation
Homewood Mountain Resort closed on the purchase of Tahoma Meadows B&B in late October/early November. There are about 15 units for Homewood employee housing.
[The Tahoe Inn in Kings Beach] is separate. It may be used for employee housing … it may very well be used by Homewood, but we pursued it as JMA Ventures … We have been working quietly for several years with TRPA and [Placer] County for the reuse of the old Tahoe Inn property for workforce housing … We are pursuing that for an about 110-unit entirely workforce housing project there at the Tahoe Inn site … About half of the units will be traditional multi-family apartments, but half will be dormitory style, too, which is going to be very unusual for Tahoe. They’re almost half studios but they will include congregate kitchens and convening areas and entertainment areas … at the same time you’ll have a kitchenette and your own bedroom and bathroom in the dormitory … We are now going to go through the formal approval process with the county and TRPA.
~ Art Chapman, JMA Ventures president
