Rural Resort Towns Are Battling a Housing Crisis

Thomas Powell

Rural resort communities are known for their world-class ski lodges, amazing mountain or ocean views and sun-drenched adventures. More recently, however, these vacation towns have also become known for wealthy tourists seeking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. What is too often overlooked is the people who keep those ski resorts, whitewater rafting trips, bars and restaurants, as well as the schools, hospitals and community at large, running—the residents.

Sun Valley, Idaho, for example, is home to the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, a media finance retreat also known as the “summer camp for billionaires.” According to research by Realtor.com, the median home listing price in Sun Valley is $1.5 million, as of March 2023, up 56.8% year-over-year. The median income, however, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, for Sun Valley residents is $50,833 with a poverty rate of 10.5%, nearly equal to Idaho’s overall poverty rate of 11.0%.

Sun Valley is hardly the only area to encounter this problem. In Alcona County, Mich., a popular summer destination named one of the top 10 vacation counties in the country by the National Association of Realtors, nearly 50% of the housing stock is made up of seasonally vacant homes. The poverty level for the county, however, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, sits at over 15%.

Martha’s Vineyard, the picturesque island off the coast of Massachusetts known for being a playground for presidents and celebrities, is experiencing similar issues. In the summer months, the town grows from around 20,000 to nearly 100,000 and the “island shuffle” begins. Wealthy tourists arrive, and local residents must move from winter rentals to summer rentals, which could mean a camper van, a room in someone’s house or a shack without a kitchen or flushable toilet.

For many of these areas, housing has been a concern for years, if not decades. In order to maintain the pristine views that attract so many tourists, housing construction is limited. In the Sun Valley area, development is relegated only to the actual cities, largely due to nearby National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands, where construction is unavailable. While this keeps the area beautiful, it means that housing is scarce. In areas like Martha’s Vineyard or the Florida Keys, construction is restricted by geography.

Hurdles to new housing

Workforce housing, as defined by the Urban Land Institute, provides affordable housing to households that earn between 60 percent and 120 percent of the area median income. Workforce housing primarily targets middle-income workers, including firefighters, teachers, police officers, retail clerks and health-care workers. Still, due in part to limited development areas and overall resistance, workforce housing has failed to penetrate the markets where it is needed most.

In Vail, Colo., the renowned epicenter of ski culture, a resort company has attempted to build apartments on five acres of a local hillside, but concerns over sheep migration and a turnover on the town council have halted the project. Additionally, with most construction needing to occur within the city limits, affordable housing must be built next to existing businesses and homes, meaning that many projects face resistance from NIMBYism. Such responses range from common reasons, such as increased traffic, to an admission that “those people” are not welcome in the neighborhood.

These housing problems were largely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many yearned to leave the cities when the pandemic struck, and second-home owners flocked to their vacation homes, where they could work remotely in communities where social distancing was a natural by-product. Those who didn’t own a second home, but could afford it, gobbled up rental properties.

Many of the residents in these rural resort communities need to work multiple jobs. What’s more, the lack of affordable housing has resulted in more and more middle-class workers living in vehicles, tents and trailers. Some areas have established certain safe zones in places such as Walmart parking lots, where residents can live in their vehicles for a fee. Other towns have created programs where workers can park and sleep in driveways, if the homeowner is willing. These established areas also have their critics, who argue that the zones will become magnets, like soup kitchens, and that living out of cars just simply should not be accepted.

Social impacts on residents

The issue of affordable housing is not just an economic one. It also has social ramifications. Indigenous people who have lived in places such as Martha’s Vineyard or Maui for hundreds of years have been forced to move out. Professionals such as doctors, nurses, high school principals, auto mechanics, plumbers and more have been priced out of these areas, which can put tremendous stress on the community and may make these essential services practically nonexistent.

Additionally, factors, such as attempting to find a place to park your car so as to have a place to live or working multiple jobs, may increase stress which can adversely affect one’s mental health. Adequate housing, on the other hand supports an individual’s confidence and contributes to resistance to economic conditions, such as inflation, while home ownership or rental housing leads to greater opportunity. Inclusionary housing policies contribute to gender and racial equality which promotes diversity of people, ideas and business opportunities.

Lack of workforce housing is a complex and broad issue that affects entire communities and, ultimately, our country as a whole. Without housing, other psychological and self-fulfillment needs cannot be met, and the sense of community that contributes to the attractiveness of these rural resort towns is at great risk.

There are many potential solutions which can help to bridge the gap between the affluent and the working class of these rural regions, such as rezoning, inclusionary zoning, tax incentivization and more. Whatever combination of solutions is utilized, it is clear that the workforce housing crisis is one that must be solved, not only to ensure that these communities continue to flourish but also to ensure that low- and middle-income workers receive access to adequate and affordable housing options.

Thomas J. Powell is currently a student in the Doctor of Law and Policy program at Northeastern University, studying the affordable housing crisis and its impact on low- and middle-income families that live and work in the rural resort communities that he knows and loves.