Valley’s Voice: The housing crisis will not just fade away 

We have a housing supply problem. I know I am a broken record. When I moved here 25 years ago, there was naturally occurring affordable housing stock — many of my friends who made up the critical workforce back then were able to buy ‘starter homes’ up and down the valley —Minturn, Wildridge, West Vail. That seems like a daydream today. 

Home building ground to a halt in 2008 during the recession. Construction companies and skilled subs went out of business. Overnight across the country we went from building 2.2 million homes per year to 600,000 homes — and we’ve been under-building ever since. Fast forward 16 years, after a pandemic and the influx of remote work, the increasing price to build and the lack of affordable homes to purchase is a nationwide crisis. There’s a little good news: It’s has become a bipartisan issue.  

I’ve been working at Habitat Vail Valley since 2005 and housing affordability has always been on my mind. Now it’s remarkable to hear housing affordability mentioned at the national level in many contexts and conversations. The United States is millions of homes short, which impacts every facet of life.  

I was able to listen to the state demographer speak earlier this month and she reiterated what we all know: without more home building that will allow for more people to live in Eagle County, jobs will go unfilled, the community character will change and the quality of life will decrease. A recent podcast by the New York Times beautifully summed the housing crisis, how we got here and where we are going.  

What Needs to Be Done 

The root cause of the lack of homes is simply that we stopped building enough. There are a few other trends not in our favor — higher interest rates, a building industry that contracted to the nearly 20-year decrease in building, in addition, the high cost of land and infrastructure push the private sector to develop higher-end homes   

Right now private sector developers cannot afford to build homes and sell them at an ‘affordable’ price. (Another recent stat: Starter homes cost more than $1M in 237 cities nationwide.) There is not an easy fix. It will require a unified and concentrated effort: Affordable building has to be funded.  

The public sector — local, state and federal governments — must be involved. The scale of what is needed is too great to accomplish without their leadership. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump have discussed how affordable housing is an urgent matter. (Bipartisanship, yes!). Leaders need to step up: Land use codes and zoning ordinances need to be updated.  

This problem will not fade away, it won’t stop being an issue. We have to be sure when we are building, we are building a housing continuum that makes sense for the workforce — a healthy community needs doctors, nurses and the support staff; we need grocery workers and teachers; we need lift operators and directors. Without a significant effort from the public sector and partnership with nonprofits, private sector builders won’t build affordable homes — they simply can’t afford to. 

Increasing housing supply will require a systems change. The public sector needs to make this happen — and spoiler alert — the country has done this before. After World War II there was a housing crisis. As a result, there was significant public investment in housing infrastructure. It’s possible but it will require significant political will. It is a nonpartisan issue.  

The demographer showed the only town growing is Gypsum. Why? The town has somewhat affordable homes and it has resources (land) that is needed to build. In a community such as ours that is constrained by physical boundaries, we need to be thoughtful about what we are building, where we are building and how we are using precious resources like water, land and funding.  

We, as a community, can’t afford to lose the workforce that used to be able to buy a free-market home.  

What can you do? Vote — housing is a both-sides-of-the-aisle issue. You can register to vote here. Get involved — attend meetings, speak up, listen to BoCC and P&Z in your area. Talk to me — I love to speak with locals who have different ideas.  

Elyse Howard is the vice president of community affairs and philanthropy. She is always up for a conversation about housing, partnerships and how to build community.