JACKSON, Wyo. — Over the weekend and into this week, a video about the wealth disparity in Jackson Hole by the newsroom More Perfect Union made the rounds. It drew heated comments on social channels, so Buckrail decided to ask its readers: did the video capture the full picture? More than 100 readers weighed in and the results were about as evenly divided as they could be: 35 said yes, 34 said no, and 35 landed somewhere in between, as of 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The 20-minute video argues that Jackson has become a case study in national wealth inequality.
For the third of people who said yes, the video simply matched what they see. “I’m a Jackson local who has lived and worked here year-round for 5+ years,” one reader wrote. “My housing has fallen through and I can’t find a one-bedroom or studio apartment in town for less than $3,000 a month outside of the affordable housing program. That’s crazy.”
Some readers saw the video’s argument as an oversimplified portrayal about how the valley got to this point in housing prices and shortage. While the video discusses the comprehensive plan, which was initially penned in 1994 (it has been updated one time since, in 2012), readers pointed out that several other factors could affect housing as well, including land development regulations (LDRs); approval and construction of luxury hotels and condos; and increased commercialization of the town as a destination. The chosen interview subjects also drew fire from some readers, who believed the reporting would have benefited from more voices.
Jessica Sell Chambers, a candidate for Town Council in the upcoming election, talked about how the housing crisis gets worse “every year by a larger magnitude than the year before.” She pointed to land conservation easements, which further reduce how much land is available for development in the valley.
County Commissioner Luther Propst, one of the interviewees and current Democratic candidate in the upcoming election, said he opposed a well-known housing project: Northern South Park. He stated in the video that “we have to look at limits to growth. And we have to say: ‘We’re only going to grow so much, and we will just be a smaller community.'”
Nikki Gill, another interviewee whose family owns the Northern South Park property, supports it. The development would add up to 600 homes on the Gill family’s property south of town.
“Why weren’t any of the numerous bonafide housing experts in our community even notified about [the video project], let alone given the same platform?” one respondent asked. “So much could have been said to even out the narratives. Huge missed opportunity.”
Others wanted different voices entirely. One reader wrote: “I think more people should have been interviewed that had jobs in Jackson … Teachers, nurses, first responders (like me) are getting pushed out.”
Readers also argued that the systems on which the Town operates was either misread, like the conservation easements, or let off the hook (some readers referred to short-term Airbnb rentals, which were not mentioned at all in the video).
“The income inequality and lack of affordable housing in Jackson weren’t caused by conservation or development regulations and won’t be solved by attacking them,” a reader shared. Other submissions agreed with this mindset — that a huge part of the issue is the lack of income and wealth tax in Wyoming. “Fix that glitch and let the modern day robber barons flee. … Without addressing the unfettered concentration of wealth in our state we will never fix the real problems identified in the video.”
A few pushed back on the premise altogether. “Stop the whining! If you can’t afford it then move elsewhere!” one wrote. “There are thousands of affordable places in the USA.”
Most readers agreed that the topic is complex and requires a lot of local knowledge to comprehend completely. Misplaced blame, complex LDRs, and statewide taxes and regulations, among a myriad of other factors that have a hand in the milieu that is current state of housing in the Town of Jackson and Teton County.
Conversations around housing are a persistent undercurrent in local politics. Recently, tensions have been elevated around the subject, especially after the termination of the developer contract with Pennrose for the 90 Virginian Lane project.
The one thing readers agreed on across the board: there is a housing crisis. How it got to this point, who’s to blame and how to fix it are all still up for debate.
