by William Skink
When the effort to resettle refugees in Missoula got international attention earlier this month from the BBC, this is how the opening paragraphs framed the opposition:
“ISIS will come for our women”. That’s how one resident expressed his fears about the proposed settling of refugees in the US state of Montana.
Around 100 refugees could be moving to the American West thanks to a local group in Missoula who were inspired to help after seeing the photo of a drowned Syrian boy whose family had fled the conflict.
But people in the neighbouring rural county are not happy. A local politician told the BBC they want a guarantee refugees will not be a threat – and he warned of a culture clash between any Muslim refugees from Syria and the predominantly white local population.
The dynamic being set up is pretty obvious: stupid, ignorant yokels from the rural margins of Missoula saying stupid shit like the opening quote versus inspired empaths rising to save Syrian toddlers from certain death.
I have written about my perspective on this issue many times now, mostly contrasting the liberal do-gooders desire to save the world one refugee at a time with the reality of failing systems unable to meet the need that already exists in our community.
On Facebook, I have even been that asshole who shares this perspective by providing contrasting comments on posts gushing with that self-congratulatory adulation over the perception that Missoula is such a welcoming and amazing place (within city limits, of course, where that rural ignorance is kept at bay with liberal righteousness)
When I mention scarce resources for the disadvantaged already struggling in our community, I am told all the funding is from different pools and will have no negative impact. But the one resource that supporters of bringing 100 refugees a year to Missoula don’t have an adequate retort for is one of the most crucial: housing.
In the Missoulian today there is an article describing the “skyrocketing” price of housing as “unprecedented”. From the link:
The skyrocketing prices of homes in Missoula this year have even long-time real estate agents shaking their heads in disbelief.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Brint Wahlberg of Windermere Real Estate. “It’s truly an unprecedented market.
“I’ve been in the business 16 years, my mom has been in the industry 36 years. We’ve never seen a market where sellers have such an advantage to drive sales price and terms of sale and everything because there’s such a lack of supply inventory and a lack of affordable new construction.”
Over just the last eight months, the median sale price of homes in the Missoula urban area have surged up 4 percent from $239,500 to the current price of $249,900. That’s a jump of over $10,000 since the end of last year and a $53,000 increase since 2011.
The article goes on to describe immediate bidding wars over new listings, frustrated buyers who miss out if they have to wait until after work to do a walkthrough (the house already going under contract before the end of the work day), and buyers giving up to return to a rental market the article put at operating with a 3% vacancy rate, down from the 4.9% vacancy rate cited in an article about housing earlier this year.
Here is more from the article:
The affordability gap has been growing in Missoula. From From 2012 to 2016, the median price of a home in Missoula rose from $209,700 to $249,900. However, the median income for a single person has stagnated right around $44,000 and actually decreased last year.
As of Aug. 5, there were just 339 active residential listings in the Missoula urban area and 602 in the county. In July alone, the median sale price of the 128 homes sold in the Missoula area was $268,000, so there doesn’t appear to be any deceleration of the climbing prices.
Wahlberg said that it’s a simple math problem: People in Missoula don’t make enough money to afford housing.
For the refugee resettlement crusaders, the housing situation in Missoula represents a potential flashpoint of frustration that isn’t fueled by ISIS IS COMING FOR OUR WOMENFOLK!!! With supply this tight and demand so significant, making competition for housing so fierce, there is simply no way for the white saviors of war refugees to wiggle out of the reality that relocating 100 people a year into this housing situation will only make things more difficult for people trying to buy a house in Missoula.
Missoula isn’t the only place experiencing skyrocketing housing prices. There is an interesting resignation letter from a city official in Palo Alto who cites the price of housing as the reason she is moving her family away. Read the whole letter below the jump.
Continue reading “Housing Refugees Amidst Skyrocketing Home Prices in Missoula”