Wilson: What priced out looks like
Letter to the editor
Ah, mud season, that cherished time of year the Red Ant can continue complaining about local workers with the added bonus of a subtle jab about how they actually get to take vacations to exotic sunny locales. Classic!
As to the missing middle, Ms. Milias seems to be confused, believing that since the volume of housing doesn’t change — and may soon increase, gasp! — that the worker makeup of that number remains the same.
It does not.
This ignores what is meant by the missing middle — or the middle being pushed out. Should someone find themselves in the middle, perhaps qualifying for Cat 4/5/RO rental and finding that almost none exist or are available, then one would be looking to free market.
Using actual examples of the free-market housing I’ve rented over the past seven years, I’ve seen those monthly rents rise from $2,000 to $4,000, $1,800 to $5,000, and from $1,800 to $7,000.
That is per bedroom. That is what getting priced out looks like. That is the middle area that has disappeared for working Aspen residents.
The middle isn’t the seasonal worker, it isn’t the liftie. It’s the manager, the business owner, the person making a good salary but who still finds $60,000-90,000+/year in rent untenable for the same place that was a quarter of that a few years ago.
I guarantee it isn’t the lack of local’s drink specials that makes it increasingly difficult to reside or save money in this town. I would point out that those specials still exist, though it would not be surprising if none are extended to Ms. Milias given her biweekly disparagement of the local workers running those establishments, who may themselves soon be without housing.
Todd Wilson
Aspen