Housing Matters

VISION | Increase access to, create and preserve enough homes for residents at varying income levels and life stages to keep Ketchum a thriving local community.

Ketchum is now implementing its first Housing Action Plan as adopted on May 9, 2022.

This community-designed and -driven plan takes a holistic approach to address the housing crisis in Ketchum and Blaine County.

YEAR-1 ACTIONS

Research – including a scan of best practices and comparable communities and community input – resulted in five comprehensive goals and 280 ideas that were filtered for immediate feasibility and impact. The goals and a sample of year-1 actions are as follows:

Goal 1 | Produce + preserve housing

Develop new and preservation pipelines
Create a pathway to ownership
Incentivize long-term rentals
- The City of Ketchum, Sun Valley, and Hailey have funded an incentive program, called Lease to Locals, to unlock new rental housing opportunities for the local community. The program provides property owners generous cash incentives to convert their properties into seasonal and long-term rentals. The pilot program launches on Oct 1, 2022 and is funded through September 30, 2023.

Lease to Locals

Policies

Begin master planning on publicly owned lands

Publicly Owned Sites

Goal 2 | Update policy to promote housing

Update code and process
Propose tenant displacement and local discrimination ordinances

Goal 3 | Expand + improve services to create housing stability

Provide displacement support
Coordinate supportive services
Create a housing navigation system
Train case workers on fair housing and landlord-tenant law, and bring in a tenant advocate

Goal 4 | Expand + leverage resources

Create a database of philanthropic, state, and federal housing resources, write grants
Coordinate philanthropic efforts and offer employer-sponsored options

Goal 5 | Inform, engage + collaborate

Update Housing Action Plan annually
Launch county-wide coordination process with other jurisdictions and implementation partners
Initiate bi-monthly check-ins with comparable ski area housing staff

HOUSING ACTION PLAN | 2022-2023

The City of Ketchum developed the Housing Action Plan based on relevant housing needs data, community input, and guidance from a Task Force comprised of a cross-section of community members. The Housing Action Plan is also built on the understanding that no single organization or jurisdiction can solve the housing challenge. The Action Plan is also built on the belief that solving community housing issues requires a multifaceted approach. No single solution offers the silver bullet to solve all the housing issues and there is simply no way to build, re-zone or buy our way out of the problem.

Foundational to the Housing Action Plan is the tenet that through innovation, coordination, and tenacity, we can together strengthen our community by securing homes for our families and workforce.

2022.2023 HOUSING ACTION PLAN

BORRADOR DEL PLAN DE ACCION

WATCH: OPEN HOUSE VIDEO

CONTEXT

Development of the Housing Action Plan included three in-depth periods of public engagement, including three Task Force meetings. A needs assessment was also conducted, primarily of census data and relevant local analyses.

Findings Summary

The housing needs assessment estimated that the City of Ketchum needs between 660-980 homes in the next 10 years to meet demand. The breakout of how demand was determined is described in the table below. It is expected that this need could be met through a combination of new construction, preserved rentals, and converting existing homes into long-term rentals.

Additionally, for all of Blaine County, (including Ketchum) approximately 4,700 to 6,400 new, preserved, or converted housing units will be needed over the next 10 years. This projection emphasizes why county-wide collaboration and housing efforts are critical to addressing the housing crisis.

Ketchum’s workforce primarily consists of low- and middle-income households (under $45,355 per year or $23 per hour) that our local economy depends on. Sixty percent of local renters live in unaffordable housing, meaning they pay more than 30% of their gross/pre-tax income on housing costs. Compounding the problem, Ketchum lost 335 long-term rentals between 2010 and 2019. This is without accounting for pandemic acceleration when Ketchum’s population grew by 25% compared to the historical 1% annual growth. Low-income renters are the most impacted by the high cost of housing. Many low-income households and individuals are one emergency away from experiencing homelessness. A survey of over 1,100 participants who live or work in Blaine County found that 1% of our population is already experiencing homelessness.

Only upper-income households can really afford the ‘market.’

Given current, high housing for-sale and rental prices in Ketchum, market-rate housing is only affordable for upper-income households. Median (market) Ketchum rent is only affordable to households earning more than $107,000 annually ($100,000 for the County).

Consistent themes throughout interviews, surveys, and open houses are the breadth of housing crisis impacts Valleywide. Below are key themes of what we heard.

The community’s identity. Sentiment from a variety of interviewees is the sense that Ketchum is losing its identity as the housing market becomes challenging and people move away. Many respondents felt that the pursuit of accessible community housing represents more than a roof over community members’ heads – it’s a quest to maintain the “soul” of the community.

Access to a stable workforce – which is damaging business vitality. Business viability and access to a stable workforce were common ideas shared when interviewees were asked to identify a “key indicator” for the housing environment.

RESULTS