CHEAP PEAKS
Is There Such a Thing As Affordable Housing in Ski Resort Towns?
By Headwaters News, 12-07-06
As ski season gets under way in the Rockies, many ski towns are continuing to wrestle with how to house workers that don’t earn the kinds of salaries that the housing there too often commands. The issue isn’t just about finding a couch for lifties so they have someplace to change and shower between shifts, but about making sure those who help run a town and all of its amenities and services have a real home.
In Aspen, the Times reports, the Roaring Fork Transit Authority is asking Aspen and Pitkin Counties to give transit workers first shot at a limited supply of affordable housing. Otherwise, authority officials say, the whole system of public transportation could continue to further deteriorate — without an affordable and convenient place to live, workers won’t sign on or stay employed with the authority.
The authority has some ideas about how to handle the situation in the long run, but needs help right now. County officials say they can’t play favorites when doling out affordable housing, but that they are going to let the authority make its case, so that the problem gets more exposure.
Up north, in Jackson, Wyo., reports the News and Guide, Teton County Housing Authority received five times as many applications as the number of homes in the valley’s newest affordable neighborhood. The 214 applications were way more than they have ever had, or expected for this group of 36 homes, which is the second of three planned affordable housing communities in the Wyoming county.
Next month, the county will hold a lottery for each house, which are near schools and public transportation. Given Aspen’s woes, you might hope some of the Wyoming transportation workers score in the lottery. But county officials say they will give preference to emergency workers and families that can fill up the homes.
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The slightly longer answer is "Maybe."
The looooong answer is "It-depends-on-the-individual-town" and whether there's anything remotely affordable within a commutable distance. If affordable housing within a commutable distance is scarce, or if the commute is really hairy, then there's an inverse pressure on the ski town to "do something," even if it is ineffective or just a bandaid on an oozing wound.
Somewhere, a talented economist should be able to define the above relationships into an equation, post a form on the internet and allow wouldbe ski bums fill in the blanks to see how many roomies you'll have in a two-bedroom condo 50 miles away from work -- six, seven, eight,....