Affordable rentals Public Comment from Abby YarusAimee Brunckhorst
From: Abby Y <abigailyarus@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2022 7:40 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Affordable rentals
Hello,
My name is Abby- I am 21 years old and grew up in the area. I was unable to make the meeting about the housing
situation as I had a schedule conflict. I however am writing now to still share my thoughts on the matter.
Personally I have been affected by the high cost of living. I work a decently well paying job doing massage but making
rent is still very stressful every month. I signed a lease for an apartment in Silverbrook for about 1300 a month. Within a
few months of me signing the lease the cost for my current place rose to 1850 (for a 783 sf ONE BEDROOM- this also
doesn't include extra fees and my pet cost making is 1950/month with many utilities still left for the tenant).
I of course can not afford this and will need to move as soon as my lease is up. I feel very upset because I was in a lower
cost apartment before- I upgraded to this one as it was only 100 more a month and much more conveniently located.
Now it is much more than that and I won't have a home next year- had I known they would greedily raise rent so quickly
I would have stayed in my old apartment. In all likelihood I won't find anything available for a decent price and will have
to leave my long-time home of MT.
Many people are in the same boat. I know of many many locals who have been forced to move.
This is entirely unsustainable especially if Kalispell and Whitefish ever want to fill the massive job vacancies in the
hospitality field. Nearly all places are understaffed. Making 12-15 an hour really does not pay the bills for an area like
this. As regular jo people can't afford to live on these wages they leave- who is left to take all these jobs??
Not only does forcing out locals decimate Montana culture- but it sets many businesses up to collapse in the years to
come. Clearly the wealthy people moving here full time or part time won't be working local service or necessary jobs...
so they continue to take housing opportunities while pushing out people who will fill the needs of local businesses.
Tourist shops, restaurants and so on can only afford to pay their employees a certain rate. As virtually only HS kids and
those living on a very tight budget w/ roommates will be able to live on these wages- the understaffing will continue
until the establishment is forced to close.
In the end not having quality service and businesses to entertain the tourism the valley receives will result in the appeal
of this area being lost.
There are many possible solutions that I hope are being considered in the valley and state wide.
1) Limiting the amount of viable rentals that can be used for AirBnB and similar services.
2) Create afforable housing for workers
3) RENT CONTROL- only allowing a certain % increase a year to avoid the BS situation I am in.
4) Wage increases
5) Once again having the rules in place that an out of state buyer waits 14 days before being able to make an offer on a
home. This gives locals who have saved long and hard to buy a home a chance before some wealthy out -of stater buys it
sight unseen as a third vacation home. (I am not making this type of thing up- doing massage... I work on MANY of the
new wealthy move -ins and they happily tell me about the insane offers they made on their homes and how they like
visiting MT 2-3 weeks a year for vacation.)
I hope some people with the power to fix this problem have the foresight to see what an issue it is and the compassion
to help long time residents of the Flathead. Hopefully this reaches one of those people.
Thank you,
Abby Yarus