Mt. Rainier National Park struggles to find affordable housing for seasonal employees

Mt. Rainier National Park is struggling to find housing for an estimated 200 seasonal employees set to work there this summer.

The lack of affordable housing in and around national parks has worsened in the last five years, according to a longtime park ranger, Bill Wade, who began his three-decade career with the National Park Service at Mt. Rainier in the 1960s.

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“Many of the parks are finding they don’t have enough government housing,” said Wade. “What people outside the park are finding is that it’s more lucrative to turn some of their available housing into lodging for visitors.”

For the first time ever, the National Park Service is asking communities adjacent to the park for help. They want to partner with local landlords and get these seasonal workers a stable place to live. Cities and towns within 50 linear miles of the Paradise Visitor’s Center are under consideration, among them Enumclaw, Greenwater, Packwood and Eatonville.

Real estate brokers in Enumclaw tell KIRO 7′s Lauren Donovan the rental market in town is almost non-existent.

“I’d think you’d see one to two rentals available in Enumclaw, and that’s it,” said Delinda Jokela with Renaissance Real Estate. “So if you want to rent, you really don’t have any options.”

Closer to the Sunrise Visitor’s Center over in Greenwater, it’s a similar story but there, vacation rentals reign supreme.

“Every now and then, you’ll see a listing come up,” said real estate broker Carlie Hendrickson. “But generally, the buyers for those properties are actually investors looking to Airbnb or create a rental property for housing for Crystal Mountain.”

Out east in Packwood, closer to Paradise Visitor’s Center, the real estate market is saturated with vacation rentals too. According to vacation rental researcher AirDNA, the city has an estimated 269 active rentals.

Terry Wildy at Mt. Rainier National Park says the search is still on for the right housing option for these seasonal workers.

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