THE BOTTOM RAIL

by: Verbal Shredwright

Housing has always been a complicated issue in many mountain resort communities. Property values always seem to out pace needed community expertise and guest services more and more. The concept of affordable housing in cities and suburbs looks quite different in the mountains. Many associate affordable with low income workers, but in the mountains there's much more to it than that. In resort communities affordable housing is also for local teachers, therapists, managers and other professions that would be thought of as middle-class almost anywhere else.

Unfortunately, some only see a resort, real estate or a business opportunity, not a community where people live, work and go to school. Every community needs teachers, dentists, nurses, etc. in addition to employees who service the growing number of seasonal and year-round visitors. The housing needs of a transient seasonal workforce is different from year-round situations of year-round professionals and families. That means warehousing of as many minimum wage workers as possible in high density apartment complexes may work for seasonal employees here for the lifestyle, but it does not work very well for local families who work and go to school.

High property values and low median income has systematically eroded the traditional mountain town and resort community experiences in favor tourist destinations and corporate revenue centers. The local owner operators are going extinct, while many service industries pass the burdens of paying their employees on to their guests in the form of tips. This business model has been exposed in the past to benefit the owners not the employees, especially when rent and bills must be paid every month regardless of what time of year it is. It's even more difficult when your job closes for mud season because the owners can afford it while their employees often cannot.

Hospitals need doctors, nurses, etc. Schools need teachers, coaches, bus drivers, etc. and communities need firemen, cops and public workers. These are services locals and visitors alike expect and rely on in any year-round community. That cannot be over-stated. One idea that makes some sense would be to implement a balanced licensing and tax system. Many communities require rentals to have a license or be registered in some form. The balanced license model simply requires investors to rent one unit for a minimum of six months for each unit rented per night. Long-term rental units would be taxed differently then short-term rentals. Investors with multiple properties could opt not to comply by paying an increasing tax rate or penalties based on the number of non-compliant units they own.

Perhaps more outside the box thinking could compliment existing policies to find comprises to resolve the crisis, even if temporarily in the wake of the pandemic. Increased demand since the pandemic and soaring home prices has seen many local property owners cashing in. This is only exacerbating the housing crisis and labor shortage by reducing available rental units for year-round professionals in favor of more remodels for short-term rental of flipping. The distinction is clear… one group is exploiting local housing market for profit, while the others provide valuable service to the community and its visitors. There must be a way to strike a balance between mansions, vacation rentals and local housing for year-round professionals, families and workers.