Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Nice move?

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Tempted by a developer who offered to pay the city $105,000 instead of building an itty-bitty community housing unit, the Ketchum City Council said: Build the unit.

It was the right thing to do.

Long ago, the city made the error of collecting money instead of parking spaces from developers. The theory was that the city could amass enough money to buy land for parking lots or build downtown parking structures.

The theory was wrong. The city could never amass money fast enough to afford to buy land and build parking in a rapidly escalating real estate market.

What was true then for parking is true now for community housing. With its ongoing refusal to engage in direct development of affordable housing, the city can’t afford to let any shred of remotely attainable housing escape construction. It must demand and protect every square foot of housing it can.

With no kind of systematic plan in place to produce housing attainable by workers and young families, pressures are building that could shatter the valley’s economy if not relieved.

We wonder how many businesses the valley must lose to high turnover and wages that can never keep up with housing costs before leaders take action. We wonder how many young families and seniors must give up on their lives here before leaders with the power to intervene will do something.

Refusing a payment in lieu of housing was a good start, but will ring hollow if nothing more is done.

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.