Here’s a flash from Aspen, Colorado: most people who work
there can't afford to live there.
Too many really wealthy folks own houses and land in Aspen, and many of them don’t live there and many of them use their properties only for a brief period
of each year.
The cleaning crews and the lawn crews and the plumbers and
the gas station attendants and the 7-11 clerks, and even doctors and lawyers,
can’t afford to rent or buy a house in Aspen.
These unfortunates live 10 or 20 or 30 miles away on
cheaper land, in less expensive homes, or trailer parks, or apartments they can
afford.
And of course they need a car to get to work, and they pay
for the gas, and so on….
Now, to tell the whole story, Aspen has a 40-year-old
program of imposing a 1.5 percent surcharge on real estate transactions, and
that money helps to pay for some affordable housing that must be included in
new development projects. However, this program puts a roof over the heads of
only about half of the folks who actually work in the resort town.
Heck, the Aspen realtors’ association had to move out of
town because it couldn’t afford the rent any more.
Aspen is part of America, and we believe that folks should be able to use
their money legally as they wish—but this doesn’t make any sense.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015
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