A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the issue of locals in Summit County sheltering in their vehicles. 

It’s interesting that the monthly salary of $2,874 for a ski shop employee, quoted in the article, works out to a housing expense of less than $900 at one-third of that income. 

There is a terrible misalignment between the official U.S. Housing and Urban Development figures of median incomes and the actual pay scale of tourism economy based jobs. The Housing and Urban Development figure for 80% of area median income is roughly $68,000 ($5,600 per month or $32 per hour). This translates to a “sustainable”  housing cost allowance of $1,875 per month. I put sustainable in quotes because the one-third figure bandied about actually translates to roughly 41% of take-home pay. I was taught that housing costs should be 25% of monthly take home income.

This is why taxpayer subsidized housing goes unoccupied. 

Officials will shrug their shoulders and say well the Housing and Urban Development figure is all we have to work with no matter how imperfect it is. 

Is it really that difficult to establish an inventory of employment roles here in the county and the pay scale that goes with each of them to come up with an actual area median income? 

Major employers in the area include local government, Summit School District, medical and first responder, essential services such as grocery, and of course tourism based retail, lodging and food service. A basic pie chart could do the job.

Pay scales for specific positions are public knowledge as far as I understand. When a job is advertised the employer is required to state the starting pay. 

I challenge all “housing officials” to work together and establish a realistic area median income wage scale that actually reflects Summit County.