By Paul Post
Enough timber comes out of the Adirondacks to build a boardwalk stretching from Queensbury to California and back.
A project like that would generate worldwide attention without serving any practical purpose.
Recent studies say a great deal more lumber should be used to build much-needed workforce housing that’s vital for sustaining a healthy, vibrant local economy.
“The North Country region is facing a severe and growing workforce housing crisis that threatens to further constrain economic growth, negatively impact local workers’ and households’ quality of life, and disrupt the balance between a year-round and seasonal population.”
That’s one of the key findings in “Building Balanced Communities for the North Country,” a report prepared for the Lake George-Lake Champlain Regional Planning Board focused on Essex, Clinton, Franklin and Hamilton counties.
Similar concerns, although not quite as severe, are raised in a separate “Affordable Housing Strategy” study prepared for the Town of Queensbury.
It says housing cost stress in this Warren County community hasn’t reached crisis levels yet, but will likely increase significantly in the near future because many categories of housing costs for both owners and renters are expected to increase at a rate roughly double the expected increase in household income growth.
“Indeed, by 2027 both renters and owners will have a unit gap at all income levels up to 120 percent of median income “ . “there is likely to be a significant affordability problem” . “and units affordable at or below the 30 percent-of-median income threshold will be largely unavailable leading to many households becoming ‘housing cost burdened’,” the report says.
