Some of Montana's major campaign contributors pay employee wages that leave purchasing power out of reach in today's real estate and interest rate market.
Wages Determine Buying Power
Town Pump, one of Montana’s top contributors to candidates supporting Right To Work, pays an average of $12.48 per hour according to Glass Door. Delaware North, a New York company that has bought up dozens of Montana premium tourist properties and laid off locals asking for a living wage, also pays in the mid $12 per hour. Annually, this hourly wage equates to around $24,960 per year.
For those wanting to someday afford a home, the forecast is bleak. Current home prices in Gallatin County and Montana as a whole have risen at a pace nowhere near wage increases. The average cost of both homes and condos exceeded a 14% increase last year alone, even with the interest rate hikes. Taking the average cost per non-luxury homes sold in Gallatin County and dividing that total by square feet, we come to the finding that purchasing a home or condo is nearing $400 per square foot.
This means that employees making $24,960 per year would be able to afford a home priced around $80,000 in today's approval system. On a cost per square foot basis of $400, this affords employees just over 200 square feet in buying power — roughly the size of a master bathroom.
Governor's Task Force Riddled With Lackluster Action
Governor Gianforte has formed a housing task force aimed at tackling the issue, but that task force has links to high end real estate development in California. Coupled with the contractor is a workforce undermining front.
Gianforte's plan is to have contractors do more training on the job with more apprentice workers. However, company owners who are incentivized to train workers to get the most work done as quickly as possible have been shown to have higher degree of accidents and costs on the job.
A study published in 2010 found that ‘for every 10 per cent increase in the percentage of apprentices to journeypersons on the jobsite (in one hazardous, unionized trade) there was a 27 per cent increase in ladder falls,’ (Kaskutas et al, 2010). The author went to note that non-union labor related accidents are both poorly recorded and often underreported.
We can attest that this absolutely true as one of our contributors once broke his wrist in a non-union accident in the act of saving a fellow worker who was falling off a roof. He then flew to Europe to get it fixed because the cost locally was roughly 15% the cost to have a cast put on locally without employer provided insurance.
Gianforte, speaking about the task force, says that “Every day, Montanans work hard to realize the American dream, to earn a decent living, to raise a family, to contribute to their communities, to retire comfortably, and to own a home. I know the task force shares my commitment to removing unnecessary roadblocks to home ownership, and helping more folks achieve the American dream”.
However, he gave his most recent speech about home ownership opportunities for working Montanans in front of a luxury development managed by a firm that specializes in housing priced well outside the grasp of working Montanans.
Furthermore, the governor's plan is far from being realized in the time needed to quell the onslaught of out of state interests grabbing properties and speculation in the market. Until then, there doesn't seem to be many options for working Montanans hoping to one day own the roof over their heads. Looking on the positive side, decorating a master bathroom would be easy.
For more information on the housing task force and to submit your opinions, you can check out their recent plans, including increasing secondary dwellings on primary resident properties, here.
Like this short story? We'll be digging deeper into the housing market issues and how they're affecting Montanan workers in future posts. Stay tuned.
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