Lack of rentals will be an issue in future

By: 
Steve Lyon
Eye On Weiser
The current economic and building boom in the Treasure Valley, and in Idaho in general, is bringing in a lot of people from other states.
 Even the governor touted the state’s low unemployment rate and rising wages on Friday at the Lincoln Day dinner in Weiser.
 Yes, it’s good to be governor during a time of prosperity. The state is running a surplus. The coffers are brimming with revenue.
 Based on the building going on in Boise, you could work 24 hours a day in construction if you wanted.
 The local sentiment is that growth will head in this direction. It’s coming slowly.  
 Based on my cursory observations, residential and commercial projects are on the upswing in Fruitland and Payette. It’s an easier commute to Nampa, Caldwell and Boise from there than it is from Weiser. 
 You’ll see those fields along Highway 95 between Fruitland and Payette get developed in the future. That is valuable and high visibility frontage for commercial projects. It’s an endless strip mall city waiting to be built.
 We’re a little farther out by about 12 miles beyond Payette. As a result, the development is a bit slower to arrive. Weiser really hasn’t been discovered yet by developers.
 I’m surprised that nobody is building any residential projects in Weiser. I’m talking smaller subdivisions in scale, maybe 20-30 new homes priced in the 150K range. Not the hundreds of homes they are building in Boise.
 I never get a clear answer on why the interest is not here to build housing. The inventory of existing homes is way down. Ask any local real estate agent. There is demand and not much of a  supply right now.
 It’s worse, actually much worse, if you’re trying to find something to rent. The vacancy rate for apartments and rental housing is just about zero in Weiser. There is a dire need for affordable rental housing and not much happening to fix it.  
 The issue of rental housing never gets mentioned much in local business circles, and it’s not up to local government to solve the problem. 
 But as industry comes this direction looking for cheaper land, I think the lack of rental housing for their employees becomes an issue.  
 • • •
 I feel for the folks caught this week in the “polar vortex” that is gripping the upper Midwest. 
 While we are enjoying the sun and 45 degrees in late January, they are in an artic icebox. Actually, the arctic might be a warmer place to be than in Minnesota or North Dakota right now. 
 Wednesday was expected to see the coldest temperatures. The forecast in Milwaukee was a negative 28 degrees with a wind chill at minus 50 degreees. 
 Temperatures in Minnesota could hit minus 30 degrees with a wind chill of negative 60 degrees. That is not just miserable. It’s downright dangerous cold. 
 The extreme cold and record-breaking temperatures forced hundreds of schools and several universities to close this week.
 Experts have a scientific explanation for the unusally frigid weather in that part of the country. A blast of warm air from misplaced Moroccan heat last month made the normally super chilly air temperatures above the North Pole rapidly increase. That split the polar vortex into pieces, which then started to wander, according to a story by the Associated Press. 
 There you have it. The polar vortex is wandering and needs to go home.
 Steve Lyon is the editor of the Weiser Signal American. Contact him at scoop@signalamerican.com.

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