Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers Can’t Afford Housing

Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by raunak on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @12:10PM (#27762712)

One pretty simple solution seems to be enacting common-sense laws prohibiting turning zoned housing into rental properties - I’m not sure if the state govt. would ever do it though.

My other proposal would be to enact laws against buying a home and not living in it, but again, not sure how legal/morally right to prohibit property ownership just like _that_

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by Ccecil on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @12:18PM (#27762817)

Idaho did the opposite in 2017...they created laws preventing any town from blocking vacation rentals in any way. Also, they have non disclosure laws which make the state very nice for real estate investors.

I wonder how many people moving here know that the lake was supposed to be a superfund site...or that their nice little cottage was a meth lab just a decade ago.

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by notional on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @12:34PM (#27762990)

oof does not sound like a place to have a new born

https://www.nap.edu/read/11359/chapter/2#6

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by Ccecil on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @12:39PM (#27763052)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Valley_(Idaho)

And that is why.

Heavy metal contamination...and not to mention the arsenic. 100 years of mining silver did a number on the downstream (Lake Coeur d'Alene).

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by alex_g on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @12:49PM (#27763177)

What about a higher property tax if you are not living on the property for more than x days a year?

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by Ccecil on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @01:04PM (#27763363)

This is the only solution I think might work. Tax vacation rentals and empty properties at a higher rate...while allowing tax discounts for keeping rent low.

Unfortunately, I think the crash will come first

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by Red_Leaves_Flyy on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @01:26PM (#27763604)

Enforcement is the hardest issue with these proposals. I agree that when ignoring the problems of enforcement this is an ideal solution.

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by jon_richards on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @03:08PM (#27764701)

Genuine question: Why is enforcement so difficult? Let everyone declare their primary residence and give property tax credits based on the number of occupants (with pass-throughs for rental properties, etc). Everyone has an incentive to declare a primary residence and it shouldn’t be too difficult to find people declaring multiple.

You could cap the number of occupancy credits per sqft to keep things reasonable.

It would also help with things like state taxes based on primary residence.

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Re:Ketchum, Idaho, Has Plenty of Available Jobs, but Workers... by RhysU on Wednesday July 07, 2021 @10:07PM (#27767807)

What about a higher property tax if you use a bedroom as a home office?

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