For the week of June 13 - June 19, 2001

Express photos by Travis Purser

Ketchum housing planners learn from Jackson

Blaine officials visit Teton County counterparts

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By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer

As manager of the Pearl Street Bagels shop in downtown Jackson, Wyo., Josh Woodbury knows the effect astronomical housing prices can have on business.

The owners are selling the local hangout, he said Thursday, mostly because finding workers has become so difficult.

Ketchum Housing Authority Director Gates Kellettt, left, and Teton County Housing Authority Planner Cindy Norton tour a neighborhood of 16 affordable homes five miles outside Jackson on Friday.

Four years ago, he managed a group of permanent employees, and a few seasonal workers, but now that group has moved elsewhere, replaced by a parade of hit-and-run staff. They stay for a few weeks or months before quitting. Sometimes, they don’t even give notice.

Woodbury, 31, who lives in one of the relatively few price-restricted affordable homes in Jackson, said "Young people are more transient than they were because they can’t find a place to live."

It’s a complaint Gates Kellett, Ketchum housing director, heard more than once when she traveled to the western Wyoming resort town last week to learn how officials there have dealt with the same kind of low- to middle-income housing shortage the Wood River Valley is facing.

When it comes to solving the housing problem, Kellett said, Ketchum is "probably the farthest behind of any mountain resort town."

Blaine County Commissioner Sarah Michael and Wood River Rideshare coordinator Beth Callister joined Kellett during the day-and-a-half mission to find out how their Teton County counterparts operate.

The root of the problem in both resort communities is the price of housing, which continues to increase faster than wages. The problem has not only made workers scarce. As in Blaine County, debate continues over connected issues such as the proposed widening of roadways as people move farther away from Jackson in search of cheaper housing and commute into town for work.

Teton County Housing Authority planners say the least expensive Jackson homes cost more than $300,000. Rentals are also expensive, running around $850 per month for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,200 a month for a two-bedroom.

Ketchum Housing Authority Director Gates Kellettt, left, and Teton County Housing Authority Planner Cindy Norton tour a neighborhood of 16 affordable housing development near Jackson.

Woodbury’s new employees earn $9 an hour, which requires them to find roommates to share their rent.

For Jackson residents who want to stay for the long term, the area’s median income, at $59,500 for a family of four, is too low for most to buy a home.

The mountain resort town adage that residents either own three homes or work three jobs, but not both, appears now to be an understatement in Jackson.

"Anybody who came here in the last 10 years could not get into the [housing] market by working three jobs," said Teton Housing Authority Planner Cindy Norton.

Norton estimates that 2,000 to 5,000 vehicles make the half-hour trip over 8,429-foot Teton pass every day to Idaho. Separated by the pass from Jackson, the towns of Driggs and Victor are sprouting a new grocery store, houses and apartments that are generally accepted to be targeted at the new commuters.

Some in Jackson worry about losing the social diversity that working people living in Jackson provide. It’s an argument that’s also been made in the Ketchum-Sun Valley area.

Both counties have about 18,000 residents.

Josh Woodbury

What’s different about Blaine and Teton is the way in which the communities have dealt with the housing shortage.

Each county has a government-run housing authority meant to help people find homes. As in Ketchum, the Teton authority helps people who earn a percentage of the area’s median income. In Jackson, a family of four with an income of $71,400 would qualify.

But Ketchum’s and Teton’s authorities are not equally supported. Ketchum’s, linked with the Blaine County Housing Commission, has $53,000 available to fund projects. In Teton County, residents voted May 9 to approve a $9.3 million local sales tax for the construction of affordable housing. Idaho law would not allow Blaine County to levy a similar tax.

The Teton authority plans to use some of the money to build 269 new rental units and 63 homes for sale under $200,000. On Friday, it announced it had agreed to use another portion of the money and borrowed funds—$30 million in all—to purchase 329 acres about five miles south of Jackson.

Two other housing groups, the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity, both nonprofit corporations, also support affordable housing. Together with the Teton housing authority, they will likely plan projects for the newly acquired land.

"It’s exciting," said Teton County Planner Bill Collins.

Since the housing authority began functioning in 1995, it has developed clusters of no more than 20 affordable homes in three different developments. By far the biggest project ever initiated in the area, the 329-acre land purchase could mean availability of hundreds more affordable homes or lots.

Bagel shop manager Woodbury said he "married into" the 750-square-foot housing trust home he and his wife own two miles south of town. The house cost $69,000 five years ago and has been somewhat of a double-edged sword.

Because the resale price is tied to the consumer price index, as is that of most affordable housing, the couple could not sell the house at market price today. That makes it difficult for the couple to get into a market-price house.

Still, he said, given everything, "it’s piece of mind to own something."

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.