Not Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

The first step in finding a solution is accurately identifying the problem.  Even before identifying the problem you must get data.

Some data:

On my regular dog walk I pass 42 houses in my neighborhood.  Of those 42 homes, 3 are occupied by full time residents.  I am defining full time residents as someone who spends more than 6 months out of the year in their home.  Of those 3 families two are long term renters, leaving one full time owner in my neighborhood.  And when my lease is up my home will join the other 40 houses and become a member of the part time housing stock.  The owner of the other long term renal house is also considering selling or moving to short term rentals meaning pretty soon this neighborhood of 42 homes could be down to one mostly (she spends 4-5 months a year elsewhere) full time family.

Is that anyone's idea of a neighborhood?  

Is that a problem?

If so, what is the solution?

My answers to those questions are: NO, YES, and heck I don't know.

Some additional data.  A most excellent friend of mine needs to hire two people to keep his business running.  He is paying $60k a year.  He has found employees he wants to hire, BUT they can't find housing.  I thought I might be able to help so I looked at the new Willits 7 affordable housing project which being 20 miles away is not exactly in the community (ie school district) but because it's out of the community is more 'affordable'.  One of his hires is married and their spouse also makes $60k a year.  With combined family income of $120k they make too much money to qualify for housing in Willits 7---for two the max income to qualify for Willits 7 housing is $104,747---even if they have a child their income is too high to qualify.  In another example of weird housing qualifications at Willits 7, for a single individual moving into a 1 bedroom the max income is $91,654 and they are not allowed to have more than 33% of your gross income go to rent which means for a one bedroom your minimum gross income is $69,127 a year.  So basically if you are a single person making between $70k and $90k a year apply for a one bedroom in Willits 7--everyone else piss off.

Neighborhoods in the Aspen area that are mostly full of full time families are the affordable housing neighborhoods.  When you drive through them they feel a lot more like Mr. Roger's neighborhood.  People know each other, kids are playing outside with other kids in the 'hood, trick-or-treating is excellent, etc.  But those 'affordable' housing neighborhoods come with their own significant cost.  First, the homes are only affordable relative to Aspen pricing, in many other ski communities you can buy a free market home for between $300-400 a square foot.  In Aspen $350 a foot gets you a deed restricted home.  What is the problem with that?  Well no financial advisor would suggest investing the majority of your net worth in a home that can't really appreciate in value.  Even worse, doing improvements or maintenance on your home is gonna be Aspen expensive and none of that can be recouped when you sell.  Bottom line, many of those older affordable housing communities are kinda decrepit as owners either can't afford to do repairs or due to the economic disincentives of owning a deed restricted home choose not to do maintenance and improvements.

So what kind of community do you get when you move to Aspen-Snowmass?  Neighborhoods that are less than 10% occupied resulting in no sense of community (I could walk my dogs naked and not risk seeing any full time residents).  The deed restricted neighborhoods feel a bit like ghettos where residents are accepting financial punishment to live and work in their community.  And employers who increasingly can't find housing for their employees within 40 miles of where they work.  Bottom line what does the Aspen-Snowmass housing look like?  Vast numbers of homes that are unoccupied the majority of the time with small ghettos where workers accept punitive financial terms to live near where they work and a majority of the workers living in other communities.

Mr. Roger's neighborhood didn't look anything like that, and I don't believe anyone would suggest that is the description of a healthy community.