Last week, ABC News ran a story about a Montana town that’s facing an existential crisis. Seeley Lake, a long-time lumber producer in Missoula County is grappling with the loss of Pyramid Mountain Lumber, one of its major employers. The reason the lumber company – which has been in business for more than 75 years – is closing is simple: Seeley Lake won’t build a new sewer system to replace an aging septic system.
The refusal to build a new sewer system traces back to the large volume of homes in Seeley Lake that have been converted to vacation homes and luxury short-term rentals. Landlords and Airbnb hosts, it seems, are unwilling to invest in infrastructure, even when it would benefit them and their business interests.
Without the new sewer system, the town cannot build affordable homes for Pyramid Mountain Lumber’s workforce. Without affordable homes, Pyramid Mountain Lumber can’t find workers to maintain its operations. And without workers, major employers like Pyramid Mountain Lumber can’t continue to operate. So, Pyramid Mountain Lumber is closing its doors.
There are a lot of notes that cities and towns in Washtenaw County should be writing down. First, if an area expects or wants to grow, affordable housing is a necessity. Without it, local employers can’t find, attract, or retain workers. And without workers, companies can’t get by. Growth is tied indivisibly to affordable housing, which is why Ann Arbor’s reluctance to jump into the affordable housing game is hard to understand. If continued growth is desirable, then affordable housing is non-negotiable.
Second, the balance of owner-occupied and rental housing is important. Right now, only one-third of homes in Ypsilanti and fewer than half of homes in Ann Arbor are owner-occupied. When landlords comprise the largest percentage of property owners in an area, infrastructure investment suffers.
The conversion of a home to rental housing means there is one fewer home available for sale to an owner who is willing to occupy it long-term. Minimizing home ownership in favor of rental housing not only destabilizes the population by forcing it to be transient, but for these permanent renters, ever-rising rents make it nearly impossible to gather the resources to buy a home. Ever.
Home ownership is the classic pathway to wealth. Without it, residents lack a connection to an area; it is much easier to pull up stakes and move whenever the time seems right. Eventually, that will leave high-cost areas without infrastructure, without major employers, and without workers. On the plus side, the area will be filled with derelict properties that the owners refuse to invest in.
Just like Seeley Lake, MT.
We need to create reliable pathways to the middle class for our young adult workforce. That means building affordable housing so that people can live and work in the same place. It also means providing viable economic opportunities for young adult workers, so they can access permanent housing and provide stability to the area. One way to help ensure that our young adult workers can afford to remain in Washtenaw County is for WCC to focus its efforts on creating programs for high-wage, high -demand jobs.
It’s not a complicated strategy, but it starts with affordable housing.
Photo Credit: Micah Sheldon, via Flickr
