How to Save a Ski Town
outsideonline.com
How to Save a Ski Town
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Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#2I imagine the Swiss have dealt with similar situations, I wonder what they would suggest? Pay employees way more is probably step one. I'm the "build more housing" guy, but it looks like the Swiss have chosen a different path?
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#3With seasons seemingly getting shorter and/or worse (due to what I assume to be global warming) and the lines just getting absolutely ridiculous [1], I think I've accepted the fact that skiing/snowboarding is going to be a different experience for my kids.
That experience probably won't be at a traditional mountain like Killington, Vail, etc. The lines will be too long, too expensive, just overall it will suck.
Honestly, I'm considering doing a hike up to the mountain/ski down thing because the alternative is to go to even more exotic locations (Niseko, maybe Lebanon?) which would cost even more money.
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/ae560476-4d83-11ea-95a0-43d18ec71...
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#4No mention of "demand" and only one of "supply:" "The limited supply of affordable housing for workers has been a challenge for decades." Prices occur where demand and supply intersect. There are two ways to lower them: lower demand or raise supply. Supply restrictions raise prices.
There are a lot of words here that fail to deal with price fundamentals.
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#5I quite like the rules in the Tirol - you can only own property if you live there. No second homes, no big hotels, no renting out houses. Just small owner operated hotels and locals.
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#6I imagine the Swiss have dealt with similar situations, I wonder what they would suggest? Pay employees way more is probably step one. I'm the "build more housing" guy, but it looks like the Swiss have chosen a different path?
If the market could build its way out of this, it already would have. There's not enough money in building and leasing units to rent to burger-flippers and dog-walkers, when there are millionaires lining up to make all-cash purchases.
You either have to pay people enough to afford a mortgage in the area, or you watch all your manual laborers move to the big cities.
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#7I quite like the rules in the Tirol - you can only own property if you live there. No second homes, no big hotels, no renting out houses. Just small owner operated hotels and locals.
I think a lot of places should have rules like that. At least they should heavily tax any home that isn't used as a primary residence (either by the owner or a renter).
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#8With seasons seemingly getting shorter and/or worse (due to what I assume to be global warming) and the lines just getting absolutely ridiculous [1], I think I've accepted the fact that skiing/snowboarding is going to be a different experience for my kids. That experience probably won't be at a traditional mountain like Killington, Vail, etc. The lines will be too long, too expensive, just overall it will suck. Hones…
Wait till you find out how overcrowded backcountry skiing has gotten too.
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#9Honest question, have any of these ski towns tried allowing the construction of a significant amount of housing? I.e. housing growth that actually scales with the growth in demand? None of the ones I've visited seem at all dense. (Been to Vail, Beaver Creek, Park City, and all over Tahoe.)
All the consternation over the housing crisis is maddening to me because it seems like universally (in the US), we're willing to try everything and anything except the one thing that basic economics suggests would actually work. We're like a person who needs to drive a screw but will only use wrenches, hammers, and saws.
Re: How to Save a Ski Town
#10No mention of "demand" and only one of "supply:" "The limited supply of affordable housing for workers has been a challenge for decades." Prices occur where demand and supply intersect. There are two ways to lower them: lower demand or raise supply. Supply restrictions raise prices. There are a lot of words here that fail to deal with price fundamentals.
Ehh, that might be a shallow search. The issue of limited supply runs throughout the piece: towns being surrounded by protected lands where building isn’t possible and NIMBYism.