Paid for by Save Our Middle Class. Written by Mary Erickson and Carrie Kruse.
JACKSON, Wyo. — Everyone has a housing story. In this community, it’s likely you also know the housing stories of your friends, your colleagues and your child’s favorite teacher. Many of these stories focus on our community’s housing challenges, but some are housing success stories: people and families who have lived and worked in this community finally being able to put down roots in a home of their own.
If the people who work here can’t afford to live here, we lose our middle class. Community Housing SPET measure #12 will provide $20 million to build homes where local workers— our teachers, police, nurses, firefighters, small business owners, etc. —can afford to live. This funding is an essential investment in our community.
Please fill in the “FOR the Proposition” bubble for Community Housing SPET measure #12 on the back of your ballot. Your support will mean more housing success stories for our community.
Working to solve our housing crisis will require a variety of housing options, Affordable and Workforce, employment-based and non-employment-based. SPET measure #12 is unique on this year’s ballot because it is the only funding option for development of nonemployee-based Affordable and Workforce homes.
The homes funded by Community Housing SPET measure #12 will be occupied by members of our community without having their housing tied to a specific job. The people living in the homes will be working in our community, and they will be able to make their own decisions about where and how they work without the prospect of losing their housing.
If housing is independent of employment, an entry-level worker can progress to a professional role at their dream job, a manager can move to a different company offering better benefits for their family, a teacher can move between schools, etc. The benefits of having stable housing independent of your employment are immense for individuals, their families, and ultimately our community. It not only allows our friends and neighbors to make employment decisions that are best for themselves, it retains professionals in our community.
How will these funds be spent? The funds will build a combination of Affordable and Workforce housing. In the past five years, 80% of homes built with Community Housing funds have been “Affordable”—renters and buyers work locally and are income-restricted, and 20% of the homes have been “Workforce”—renters and buyers must work locally but at any income level. All homes, Affordable and Workforce, are occupied by local workers and have appreciation caps to ensure they remain within reach of local workers forever.
Why not ask for funds for a specific project? Because building homes is strategic, complex and time-intensive. The Community Housing Fund allows us to be nimble and invest in multiple developments simultaneously. It also allows us to leverage private sector funding while mitigating public risk: cost overruns or unexpected expenses are the responsibility of the developer, not the public.
The Housing Supply Plan outlines the need for housing across income levels and between ownership and rental opportunities and gives high-level direction for what kind of projects the Town and County will pursue. These public funds go through public vetting with both the Town Council and County Commission reviewing every project and you, as a community member, can weigh in on the projects’ locations, designs and who they serve.
The key to SPET measure #12 is partnership, which allows these funds to be leveraged with private funds to create more housing opportunities for our community. Since 2016, Community Housing funds have built 94 homes with the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity, 90 homes with for-profit developers, and 69 homes via partnership opportunities. These partnerships have leveraged Town/County money with $100+ million in philanthropy, mission investor capital, and debt. More importantly, these partnerships have provided safe, stable housing for community members that you see every day.
Everyone has a housing story and we need to tap into all efforts to provide housing for our local workers. We support all housing measures on the SPET ballot because each one is a step closer to a housing success story. Remember to flip over your ballot, find Community Housing SPET measure #12, and vote FOR the proposition.
Mary Erickson is chair of housing advocacy group ShelterJH and chair of the new Save Our Middle Class PAC. Carrie Kruse is a long-time housing advocate and serves on the PAC advisory committee.
