It’s fair to say that ever since there have been ski towns, there have been housing problems. From when those early lifts started turning after World War II, when there was little nearby housing, to today, when affordability is the main issue, it’s never been an easy one to solve.Those early “ski bums” happy to crash in a basement or their VW bus are long gone, replaced by either seasonal workers who expect decent and affordable living conditions or full-time resort-area workers who want to be part of a community.But as ski towns like Park City, Vail and Jackson Hole continue to grow while real estate values climb ever higher, there’s a simple, stubborn reality that likely won’t ever go away: Beautiful places with great skiing, amazing views and year-round outdoor recreational opportunities will always attract those able to afford a second (or third or fourth) home they may only occupy a few weeks a year.Popularity — often driven by resort marketing — drives up prices, as well as demand for armies of seasonal and year-round workers to make the place run. It’s a particular irony that, amid a shortage of worker housing, so many dwellings are vacant for much of the year.“We don’t have a housing problem. We have a housing utilization problem,” said Margaret Bowes, executive director of the Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST). “There are plenty of units. They just sit empty.”Despite its Colorado origins, CAST’s membership today includes many other Western resort areas, including Park City, Jackson Hole, Big Sky, Mammoth Lakes and Whistler.Housing, of course, is a big focus for the group. In 2023, CAST teamed with the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments (NWCCOG) to create a Workforce Housing Report that’s the most comprehensive study ever done on the topic. The 82-page report goes into exhaustive detail on the problems and solutions while devoting a page to all the member areas — including Park City.Quantifying the issueAs Bowes said, the study didn’t contain any surprises, but it did help quantify the situation while putting many of the solutions currently planned or in place in one document.In Park City, for example, the report shows 8,585 total housing units — with 52% being vacant or seasonal and only 24% owner occupied. Park City’s affordable housing page notes that the government has been working on the housing issue since the early 1990s and has helped create 651 deed-restricted units — 69% rental and 31% owner-occupied. (Deed restrictions typically cap how much the unit can be sold for and/or the type of owner or renter living there.)It’s more than a drop in the bucket, but there’s plenty more to be done as the page states: “Park City must create an additional 800-1,000 units over the next five years to support its workforce and middle-class residents.”For many of the locations documented in the report, the numbers are similar: Half or more of the total housing units are vacant/seasonal, 20-30% are owner-occupied, and only 10-15% are renter occupied.Megan McKenna, a housing advocate for the Mountainlands Community Housing Trust representing the Wasatch Back, it’s a problem that’s continued to worsen.“The housing crisis we’re seeing nationally is highly exaggerated in mountain towns,” she said. “The cost of living is so much greater, and so is the wealth disparity. We’re like the canary in the coal mine.”As a member of the local workforce who also lives in an affordable housing unit herself, McKenna will also soon be a stronger position to tackle the problem as a newly elected Summit County councilor.New problemsThe COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends, creating what Jon Stavney, executive director of NWCCOG, called “a supply and demand breaking point.” Remote workers flooded mountain towns armed with big-city salaries and were able to outbid locals for housing. A 2021 study found that 70% of newcomers arrived with jobs paying over $150,000 annually, while 60% of existing, full-time residents earned significantly less.“What happened after COVID is that those distinctions became blurred,” Stavney said. “Places in Gypsum and Eagle (Vail bedroom communities) were filling up. These are places that were classically downvalley, worker communities that almost overnight became second-home communities.”In recent years, two other forces compounded the problem: the rise of Airbnb and VRBO making it much easier to do short-term rentals, and a big jump in housing costs driven by the pandemic and low interest rates.Suddenly, landlords who might have rented out for a whole season or year to locals were able to rent short-term units to visitors for more money. Meanwhile, a modest home that might have cost $400,000 in 2015 was now selling for $1.2 million.This and other factors helped wake up the resorts themselves. Often criticized for driving the demand for housing with their workers and not doing much to help, ski areas, hotels and other businesses were compelled to step up to the plate.As Bowes said, it’s not an easy question to answer when it comes to whose responsibility it is to house workers. In most places, it’s left to the market with perhaps some government assistance for low-income families.WinsWhile the problem is a stubborn one, there are successes being reported as well as a larger menu of tools to tackle the problem from multiple angles.Jackson, Wyoming, for one, has doubled its affordable workforce housing since 2016 through public-private partnerships. In Ouray, Colorado, four local businesses joined forces to purchase the Ouray Chalet Inn to house their workers. In Durango, the city is converting a former Best Western hotel into 120 apartments.Locally, Park City has created deed-restricted properties with the Snow Creek Cottages (13 homes); Empire Pass (17 units); Parkside Apartments (42 rental units) and others. Future plans include Park City Heights (79 units) and the EngineHouse development with 99 mixed-income units.McKenna said many of the successes come from tackling the problem from different angles and creating partnerships.“Local government can’t go it alone,” she said. “So, when nonprofits and private businesses are part of the solution, there’s a much greater likelihood that we can make a greater impact.”Credit: Northwest Colorado Council of GovernmentDeed restrictions may be one of the most baseline tools, but she said innovation continues to point to more solutions while the problem itself is being taken more seriously.“The big resorts are concerned, of course, but so are the smaller business who also feel the impact of the housing crisis,” she said.For the bigger employers, McKenna said there’s a movement toward more direct approaches like securing master leases and building their own housing units.Other innovative programs are popping up all over. Vail’s InDEED program pays homeowners to place permanent deed restrictions on their properties, ensuring they remain available for local workers. Breckenridge has committed to adding 924 workforce housing units by 2027, with about 300 currently under construction. And Summit County, Colorado, launched a program offering up to $60,000 for homeowners who create accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for workforce housing.At the ballot boxLocal governments are also seeing strong support from their communities willing to back policy changes and new funding mechanisms. In 2022, voters in multiple mountain communities approved new taxes on short-term rentals to fund workforce housing. Steamboat Springs passed a 9% tax on vacation rentals, while Summit County, Colorado, approved a 2% tax for housing and child-care initiatives.On the federal level, recent legislation allows the U.S. Forest Service to lease administrative sites for workforce housing, leading to projects like Summit County’s partnership to build 177 units on Forest Service land along I-70.“The political will equation for elected officials has changed,” said Stavney. “They recognize that they have to be leaders for future residents if they want to have a community.”Still, challenges remain. Construction costs continue to climb, and infrastructure expenses can add tens of thousands per unit for roads, water and sewer connections. And in many communities, NIMBYism (“Not in My Back Yard”) has morphed into “NIMSBY” — “Not in My Second Back Yard” — as vacation homeowners resist density and development.Despite the obstacles, mountain communities are proving that solutions are possible with political will and creative thinking. And those wealthy out-of-towners may someday see the light and not stand in the way.“Recognize that the place that you value and the reason you came here is the same reason that people who want to be here and build a community here and build a life here want to be here,” Stavney advises second-home owners. “That vibrancy comes from the full-time residents who operate that quirky coffee shop or that little retail store you like to pop into.”As she looks ahead to taking her seat on the Summit County Council, McKenna said she’s looking forward to a renewed focus on the housing crisis.“It’s definitely one of our greatest challenges, and I’d love to see the council come up with a housing goal that we can track the progress of,” she said. “I hope to see new partnerships, working with the chamber and others to find ways to engage employers big and small.”Credit: Northwest Colorado Council of GovernmentThe post Are ski towns making progress on housing? appeared first on Park Record.