Many American workers can’t find housing they can afford near their jobs, tying them to lengthy, expensive commutes.
Some eventually give up, finding new jobs in places where their work and homes are a bit closer together.
Some cities and employers hope to prevent a housing shortage from chipping away at their workforce and essential local services, like healthcare.
Mary Wirta is the human resources manager for UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She said the hospital is experiencing its highest turnover rate yet, which she attributes to the cost and availability of housing.
“We’ve had employees who have come to us in the last year or two not knowing what they’re going to do and if they are going to be able to stay in Steamboat and continue in a career they love in the community they love,” she said.
Employers like the hospital, the US Forest Service and Walt Disney World are investing in long-term housing, hoping the bid will improve recruitment, retention and keep essential services staffed and running.
Steamboat Springs voters will decide if land can be annexed for an affordable housing development
In Steamboat Springs, the median rent is $4,000, according to Zillow—about twice the national median of $2,050. The average house sells for $1.2 million, more than 140% higher than the national average for home prices of $492,300, according to data from Zillow and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Jason Peasley is executive director of the Yampa Valley Housing Authority in Steamboat Springs. He said because of the city’s limited housing options, low and medium-wage earners can only afford about a tenth of the housing stock.
As a result, people sometimes double or triple up in a unit or face commutes as long as 50 miles one way.
“Other folks make really drastic decisions to live in their cars, or in the summer they’ll camp in the National Forest,” Peasley said. “Or they just leave town altogether,”.
Low supply creates higher rents and home prices, and some residents are severely cost burdened, spending half or more of their income on rent.
“What you see is this chronic stress around, ‘Can I afford what I’m living in now?’” Peasley said. “’Can I afford it next year when the rent goes up? Will it even be available the next time the lease is up?’”
Using an anonymous $24 million donation, the Yampa Valley Housing Authority bought a 534-acre parcel of land called the Brown Ranch. The land was outside of the Steamboat Springs city limits, and last year, the city council approved annexing 420 acres from Brown Ranch for the development of about 2,200 housing units and commercial space.
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Plans for the development include apartments, condos and both rental and built-to-own single-family homes to meet a mix of housing needs.
In November, about 1,500 registered voters signed a petition to put the annexation of Brown Ranch to a vote. Voters will decide the matter in a special election next week.
In addition to Brown Ranch, the Yampa Valley Housing Authority is breaking ground on a 234-unit development in the spring, starting with the construction of 84 condos to be put up for sale. Since 2016, the housing authority has created 285 affordable housing units.
“One of the major outcomes that we’re hoping for is that businesses aren’t continually identifying housing as a limiting factor to the expansion of their business or reporting troubles with retaining and attracting employees,” Peasley said of the plan for Brown Ranch.
Steamboat Springs’ hospital bought an apartment complex for staff
Wirta, the human resources manager for Yampa Valley Medical Center, said a handful of positions at the hospital have been open for years due to the workforce housing shortage. Some departments haven’t been fully staffed for years.
“We’ve interviewed individuals, gotten close, and then they do a review of the availability and cost of housing, and they either will decline an offer or step aside before they even get to the interview process,” Wirta said. “What keeps me up at night are the individuals that are likely seeing our postings but don’t even apply because they do a quick search of housing and they get turned off.”
The housing shortage has impacted a wide range of openings at the hospital, from entry-level to physician positions. Wirta said some of the most affected roles are in the hospital’s surgical care department and those focused on imaging services, like radiology.
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Housing availability also affects current staff, who might work extra shifts when their departments aren’t fully staffed, added hospital spokesperson Lindsey Reznicek.
Yampa Valley Medical Center already offers housing options for staff. A longstanding program with about a dozen units provides new hires housing for three months to a year when they relocate to Steamboat Springs. In a new program the hospital started this year, staff can sign up for one of three separate suites in a rental unit. The suites support on-call staff who live outside the hospital’s on-call response time or who need to cover short-term shifts.
Now the hospital is the first in the UCHealth system to invest in long-term housing with the purchase of a housing development for about $30 million. Called Creek’s End, the 42-unit complex is currently under construction about a mile from the hospital.
The hospital plans to hold a lottery for the units this summer and estimates they’ll be ready for move-in early next year.
Tennessee bill would open up zoning incentives for cities
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, residents have been coping with steadily rising housing costs during the last few years.
“Real estate prices on the housing market have increased substantially faster than wages,” said Nicole Heyman, chief housing officer for the city of Chattanooga. “So we’re struggling in Chattanooga with having enough housing that anyone who is living and working here can afford at every level of affordability.”
When residents can’t afford to live near their jobs, they sometimes leave the city and county.
“Because of our close proximity to Georgia, sometimes people move right out of the state to find affordable housing,” Heyman said.
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Tennessee law blocks local governments from offering developers zoning incentives, such as density bonuses that allow buildings to have more floors or units, in exchange for building affordable units.
A state bill in Tennessee would give cities the option to use zoning incentives for affordable housing.
Remote work brings respite from commutes
Since the pandemic, more employers have committed to remote or hybrid work that, among other benefits, lets workers break away from daily commutes to the office.
Working remotely is a requirement for applicants to the Tulsa Remote program, which offers workers $10,000 to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Tulsa Remote has drawn applicants from labor markets with higher costs of living, including housing costs.
Like most cities, Tulsa has its share of affordable housing challenges, but its median rent is about $700 less than the national median, according to Zillow. Tulsa’s average home price is currently about $195,000, about 60% less than the national average for home prices during the last quarter of 2023, according to data from Zillow and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Dropping commutes gives remote and hybrid workers a precious gift: Time.
“That’s one of the big advantages of remote is filling that time in other ways,” said Justin Harlan, managing director of Tulsa Remote. “Which leads to greater productivity or just figuring out you can prioritize things you might not have had time for before.”
Contact Streetlight editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@streetlightnews.org. Follow her reporting by joining our newsletter.
Streetlight, previously BigIfTrue.org, is a nonprofit news site based in Oklahoma City. Our mission is to report stories that envision a more equitable world and energize our readers to improve their communities. Donate to support our work here.
