News records show housing has been tough to secure for decades in Jackson. But there are lessons the community can learn from the rest of the West.
That’s according to Jennie Rodgers, who works with states and rural partners across this region as vice president at the national affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners.
Jennie Rodgers works with states and Western rural partners as vice president at the national affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners. (Courtesy)
Before strategizing with Jackson organizations, she joined KHOL for a conversation about how to protect existing housing stock and plan for the future. She will present a talk called “Housing Preservation: Keeping Local Homes Affordable,” from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, April 20 at the Teton County Library with co-sponsors Shelter JH, Jackson Hole Public Art, Teton Resilience Network, JH Working and Community Foundation of Jackson Hole.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. — Ed.
Evan Robinson-Johnson: Affordable housing is a big topic here, as it is throughout the West, throughout the country. But what kind of lessons are you trying to bring into that conversation?
Jennie Rodgers: There are a lot of people in Jackson and in Teton County who are really trying to tackle the affordable housing issue and have some great strategies, many of which focus on new construction of new units, which is definitely needed. And I’m bringing some best practices, case studies and ideas around preservation of the existing housing that exists.
ERJ: These are homes that have been owned by individuals in our community for a while and basically trying to figure out ways that they could stay affordable or stay owned by members of our community.
JR: Yes, and also looking at your rental housing stock. So how do we make sure that the properties that have income restrictions on them stay that way? If those restrictions are going to expire, are there ways to incentivize or acquire properties that may not have income restriction but are affordable in the rental market to become affordable? And maybe there are some opportunities for conversion of commercial properties into residential uses. So there are a whole bunch of ways that you can think about housing preservation for both owners and renters so that they can stay in the community.
ERJ: There has been talk, at least in this community, for years about a housing crisis, and that word just gets difficult because it’s a multi-year crisis now at this point. It’s hard to just get a sense of: Are things getting better? Are things getting worse? One of the statistics here just being that we have a 1% vacancy, so when you lose your housing, it’s very hard to find a new option. But I wonder how that maps onto the region that you are responsible for. I mean, is Jackson any better or worse off than the rest of the West?
JR: You know, the West is a really interesting place to work. We have such a diversity of communities. We have those communities in Montana, Utah, the communities like yours, there are a lot of similarities in housing needs. You have many people who work in those communities who don’t make a lot money or make a decent living wage, but are competing with outside investors, folks who can move there with a remote job, people who are retiring with a lot a money, and our competing in a market for housing and there’s inequity there, right? If you’re trying to buy housing or rent housing with your local wage, you’re competing against those other folks. And so I think throughout the Rocky Mountains, there are many communities that have that same issue. I think Jackson and Teton County are probably an acute example of those needs and that housing crisis.
ERJ: I wonder if that means that there are lessons that we could all learn together as mountain resort towns. Are there strategies that you’ve actually seen succeed that Jackson could emulate?
JR: Sure. There’s a program that’s been tried in four or five of our Colorado mountain communities, and that is a program where the towns, the counties are paying existing owners to put a deed restriction on their property. So I was just on the phone with the town of Breckenridge today. This is a program where their investment is less than what they might invest in new construction and they have a funding resource that they’ve created based on sales tax. That allows them to buy a deed restriction from either an owner who lives in a unit and may need some money for renovations or to keep up with their taxes or to help a new owner get into a unit with a large investment from the community. That would help them bridge that gap between what they can afford and what condos and townhomes are going for. So that’s a program that’s actually really seeing some success here that I’d like to chat with folks about.
ERJ: And how much are homeowners being paid through that?
JR: 15 to 25 percent of the purchase price or, of the value if they’re staying in that unit.
ERJ: And there’s been adoption of that already in Breckenridge, it’s working there?
JR: Yep, Vail, Aspen, so that’s just one example. There are some other things that I think will be great to talk about. ADU [accessory dwelling units] construction, I know you have. There are spins on building ADUs that maybe there could be some ways of looking at taking a fresh look at ADU development and making it easier for your workforce to build ADUs on their properties.
ERJ: Are there examples that you’ve seen in doing this work that really have made a difference? I think people have the sense that we can’t build our way out of these problems, for instance, or that we need to overhaul our approach. I wonder if you have examples that actually show some progress that gets us out of crisis.
JR: I think it’s tough. I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years. We have had some level of crisis, unfortunately, in affordability pretty much everywhere across America since I have started. So I don’t think we have a magic bullet that’s going to solve one community’s affordability crisis. But I think that the strategies that your community has now, I would not suggest overhauling. I just think we want to add to those.
