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New Report Sheds Light on Workforce Housing in Mountain Communities
Noted in the report’s Executive Summary is the persistent wage disparity between part-time residents and/or newcomers, and full-time residents.
ColoradoBiz Staff //December 11, 2023//
New Report Sheds Light on Workforce Housing in Mountain Communities
Noted in the report’s Executive Summary is the persistent wage disparity between part-time residents and/or newcomers, and full-time residents.
ColoradoBiz Staff //December 11, 2023//
Housing affordability for workers has long been an issue in Colorado’s mountain communities. Analyzing the problem, the 2023 Regional Workforce Housing Report, released Nov. 2 by the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments and the Colorado Association of Ski Towns, examines housing programs and projects at 37 rural resort member communities in Colorado and six other communities in the West.
READ: New Approaches to Affordable Housing in Resort Communities
Noted in the report’s Executive Summary is the persistent wage disparity between part-time residents and/or newcomers, and full-time residents.
“Seventy percent of newcomers and a greater percentage of part-time residents to the high country arrived job-attached with wages averaging over $150,000 per year, while 60 percent of full-time residents, most of whose earnings are tied to the local economy, earn notably less than that amount per year,” the summary points out, citing the NWCG’s “Mountain Migration Report,” published in 2021.
“This influx of wealth in a housing-scarce environment, land-locked by geography (and beautiful public lands) drives rents and home prices far beyond attainability of average workers. In other words, the marketplace for attainable housing is broken, and the only way most workers whose wages are tied to the local economy can step into the housing marketplace (even to rent) is with some combination of a hand-up from government-subsidized housing, down-payment assistance and market regulation. Fortunately, this report shows how much is being done. The challenge remains to find the next policy innovations.”
The full report can be found online at nwccog.org/programs/member-services/reports
