MISSOULA'S INCOME DISPARITY AND HOUSING TROUBLES: A Growing Divide Between Homeowners and Renters.

AuthorHawk, Scott

The issues facing working class Montanans seem daunting--struggling to afford a basic middle class life with historically low wages and soaring housing costs. It's an issue seen across the country where nearly 43 percent of households don't earn enough to afford their monthly budget of food, rent, child care, health care and bills. In the microcosm of a city like Missoula, it s even more apparent.

There is a growing disparity between those who own a home and those who rent. According to the American Community Survey performed by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2017, Missoula County saw a dramatic yearly increase of 17.5 percent in the median household incomes of those who own their homes compared to a 4.5 percent decrease for those who rent. As 41 percent of residents in the county are renters, that means almost half the community is seeing rising incomes while the other half are seeing their incomes drop.

It's a widening gap that is concerning. Homeowners have seen a jump in their estimated median household income to $75,940, while the estimated median household income for renters is now $29,793. While the average price of rent dropped nearly 1.5 percent, affordability has worsened. The percentage of renters in Missoula who are cost-burdened climbed to 49 percent. In other words, half of the residents who rent are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing (Figure l).

In 2016, the median priced home in Mssoula was $255,000 --meaning the household income required to purchase a home in this price range was around $81,000. That figure has continued to grow to a record $290,000 in 2018 (an 8.1 percent increase over 2017), while the median price of a newly constructed home rose 26 percent to $383,500, according to a report from the Missoula Organization of Realtors. Today, the Missoula Organization of Realtors estimates that Missoulians would need an income of at least $95,731 to purchase a median priced home.

There is a correlation between income and home ownership. Patrick Barkey, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, recently noted that the price-to-income ratios for 38 Montana counties revealed affordability worsened as one traveled west. Median home sale prices in Ravalli and Lake counties, the least affordable in the state, were six times as high as median household incomes there.

He found that while Gallatin County has seen housing prices increase by 50 percent since 2012, their...

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