Most employers say housing is a problem

Housing also plays a big role in employment and some employers say they may leave the area if things don’t improve, a draft housing study commissioned by the city of Columbia Falls found.

The study surveyed 42 businesses, which provided about 2,200 average year-round jobs, and represented about 40% of the jobs in the Columbia Falls area.

Employers definitely had concerns about the housing crunch and the cost of housing.

“Both the choice of housing, quality of housing and cost of available housing is a problem. Five years ago our employees lived in Columbia Falls, now they have to commute from Hungry Horse and beyond...” one employer said.

“I have employees that are making $50-$70k a year salary and they have zero disposable income. These are professional employees that are expected to look professional but can hardly afford to maintain their vehicles,” another employer said.

Of those surveyed, no employers said that housing was not a problem. And some were considering leaving the area if the situation continued to worsen.

The problems were particularly acute with businesses that relied on seasonal employees.

Over 75% of employers surveyed said they had a workforce challenge related to housing and 31% said it was the most critical problem in the area; 52% said it was one of the more serious problems. No one said it wasn’t a problem.

Employers most frequently had employees refuse employment or leave positions due to the cost of living in the area (62%), followed by a lack of housing (55%).

Another 29% of employers had someone leave a job or refuse employment because the employee found a job nearer their place of residence.

Having said that, the job market continues to grow.

Two-thirds of the increase in jobs in the Columbia Falls Area from 2018 to 2023 was concentrated in four sectors: construction (23%), followed by business and professional services (16%), manufacturing (15%), and accommodation and food services (12%). 

The fastest growing sector, however, was arts, entertainment, and recreation, growing by 16% (71 new jobs).

The latter are typically lower-paying jobs, while construction and manufacturing are higher wage earners.

From 2018 to 2023, construction  saw the greatest increase in job numbers, adding 200 jobs since 2018; business and professional services saw an increase of 138 jobs and manufacturing 127. 

Manufacturing continues to be the biggest employer in the Columbia Falls area, with 1,020 jobs in 2023. Columbia Falls is home to the Weyerhaeuser MDF plant, F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber and Nomad GCS.

Only one sector actually saw a job decrease, and that was agriculture, forestry, mining, utilities and warehousing. But the loss was minimal, at two jobs, the study found.

Seasonal employment is also significant.

The seasonal employment increase in the Columbia Falls Area in recent years has been just over 500 jobs on average, or about a 10% rise from base year-round employment. Most are tied to tourism.

Based on employer survey responses, about 48% of summer seasonal hires live in the county year-round. For the 52% of jobs filled by seasonal resident employees, employers provide some housing options for employees, such as shared rentals, limited family units, dorms, hotels, bunkhouses, RV sites, camping options, and rooms in employers’ homes; however, employees that need to find housing struggle during the peak season. Winter seasonal employees can more easily locate housing because rental vacancies in the area end to be higher during the winter months.

About 54% commute from outside Columbia Falls, the study found, or about 2,550 members of the workforce, though many would like to live closer, the study found.

The study suggests several possible solutions to the housing problem, such as density bonuses for developers where they’re allowed to build higher density in exchange for setting aside some units for affordable housing. It also suggests possibly using city funds, such as the resort tax, to help with costs.

But interim city manager Mark Shrives noted that the city’s resort tax allocations are set by the law when it was passed, and there are no allocations directly related to subsidizing housing.

Other options are working with local non profits, like the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust, Habitat for Humanity and the Whitefish Housing Authority.