Comments on: The housing crisis is harming my town

By: T. Lee Brown

T. Lee Brown — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:01:47 +0000

Sounds pretty much like what we’ve got here in Central Oregon… where we’re also running out of water.

By: Commentary: The Housing Crisis is Harming My Town | The Daily Yonder - Alaska Local News

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 14:38:41 +0000

[…] This story was originally published by Writers on the Range. […]

By: Girdwood Homeowner

Girdwood Homeowner — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 20:50:22 +0000

In reply to Tim Lydon.

Holtan Hills is not being “subsidized by the municipality”. The contract states that the developer will sell lots and split the profits with the muni. Furthermore the proposed ordinance (a) blocks STRs, (b) transfers a multifamily lot to a housing authority and (c) states that all development steps must be cleared with a community-based lands committee. Girdwood homeowners who are fighting to block this refuse to acknowledge that blocking this development means that no new homes will be built in the valley in the foreseeable future and home values will continue to rise at record rates. Anchorage isn’t going to build affordable housing for Girdwood locals – the city needs to focus on actually providing housing for the hundreds of people living on the street before we worry about people who want a nice home in a resort community.

By: Tim Lydon

Tim Lydon — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 19:09:29 +0000

In reply to rueben. Hello Rueben, While I think it’s fair to talk about light rail and other options to assist workers who have been bumped from the community, I strongly disagree with a few of your assumptions. First, in our community and many others, we are talking about apartments and all levels of density. Many of us are homeowners. The assumption that residents who were unable to get in before the price hikes are after big houses or garage is way out of touch. That’s just not what’s happening in resort communities. Also, please note this discussion is also about creating opportunities for rentals, not just home ownership.Second, the towns mentioned in the article have had success in keeping local workers in the community in a variety of housing types. So the planning does have successes. It’s not ideal in all cases, but there are successes that should be acknowledged, which what this article attempts. Third, I would be very careful about asserting that crime rates rise when fair housing solutions are pursued. That’s just a very broad and unsavory take. Fourth, this particular development is being subsidized by the municipality, and many in our community believe the subsidy should go to more than high-end development. It is inaccurate to assert that housing advocates are somehow asking for ‘prime-time’ real estate. Lastly, I do appreciate your comparison between resort communities and larger urban areas. This is a topic myself and others think a lot about as we are involved in housing issues both in our community and in nearby Anchorage. It’s a lot to think about, but the only way to do begin that is to move past some of the quick assumptions described above. Thanks. Tim

By: rueben

rueben — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 01:54:39 +0000

Brother, perhaps it is feasible to accept commuting 40min or so from Anchorage instead of living in the resort? Maybe someday someone will build apartment complexes and maybe a commuter train or other reliable form of public transit up there, unlikely unless the money is there and that is the crux. The issue with affordable housing is the same everywhere, always has been and always will be. If you worked in Boston/DC/NYC/etc. you’d feel about average with a 1hr commute. The ski/outdoor resort town seems like the promised land and oh-so-different from the real cities, but money still runs the show and I’ve yet to see taxes and penalties make a big difference. Also, do you think that some mountain townfolk have a somewhat, and i mean this respectfully, sense of entitlement when it comes to accessing prime time real estate? (Try this approach in Manhatten). What I’ve seen is people who expect houses and consider apartment buildings to be a form of punishment…no room for the river raft, skidoo trailer or #vanlife 4×4 Sprinter evidently. Instead of seeking help from government rules and laughable mountain town “planning” (e.g. Jackson, Sun Valley, Whitefish, etc.) where regardless of the best noble+shangri-la intentions, realize that most affordable housing concepts have never been a really good and sustainable idea and result in the overcrowding, traffic, and inevitable rising crime rate that flourishes when we pack people unnaturally close to one another. Put in some good tunes and enjoy the beautiful Turnagin (icy I know!) commute and maybe someday your community developers will have some incentive to build some apartment complexes, or a train….or if a prime time piece of real estate is your goal, maybe figure out a creative way to make a bunch of dough so you can buy whatever you want.

By: Sherrie Fay Lindskog

Sherrie Fay Lindskog — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 17:32:38 +0000

Apparently this is happening all over the country. We are dealing with these same problems here in Grand Marais/Cook County, Minnesota.

By: Towny Anderson

Towny Anderson — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 17:20:37 +0000

I have dealt with affordable housing in VT and CO, 20 years apart, and now, nearly 20 years later, Tim has written a fine column on the same issue, only in a community further west. Despite all the successful precedents from which to draw — learned over 60 plus years –the challenge continues to boil down to politics: “We just need elected officials to understand that people can’t work here if they have nowhere to live,” so succinctly stated by Tim.
When I was in the game, our City Council passed the first inclusionary zoning ordinance — not perfect by any means, but also not without fierce resistance from the development community. In fact, we were summarily voted out of office in the next election. I found myself arguing with our housing community — my allies — because I was a strong proponent of accepting a piece of land offsite from the developer in lieu of having the developer set aside 10% of the units in the development which would be in the ski resort base area. We had brought two experts on affordable housing from Vail to speak to the community and asked, if you had to do it again, what would you do differently? and the blunt answer was, take the land, buy the land, what ever it takes — the value of land is timeless.
Fast forward to the ensuing years after the Great Recession of 2008, and the developers, one by one, came back to City Council asking for relief from the affordable housing requirement, which of course, was granted (no councilor asked the obvious question, “are any of your market rate units selling?”). Last I heard, the community is now back at square one, fiercely debating the need for affordable housing. Had the community accepted the offer of land offsite, do you think they would have come to the City Council asking for the land back — or a percentage of the housing units that had subsequently been built on that land? Ha!

By: Steve Fernlund

Steve Fernlund — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 17:02:00 +0000

Same here in Cook County Minnesota. Prime vacation spot but little housing options for the working folks.