Housing, Ski Resorts & Local Economics
INEXORABLY LINKED
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Taos - the Town, County and combined area - has significantly lower tax revenues per resident than the other major ski areas despite having world-class skiing.
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Perhaps not coincidentally, other than Jackson Hole and Teton County, Taos (Town and County) have significantly fewer housing units per resident, significantly higher occupancy (full-time) than the other ski areas - and significantly lower proportion of housing that is seasonally used.
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In short, virtually all of its housing units are used by residents, providing limited options in the Taos region for serious winter sports enthusiasts - compared with their options elsewhere.
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And as the data provided in the Housing Need section, what is available is significantly older and less desirable on average than in competing regions.
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Compounding the problem in Taos is the fact that not only is housing for resort staff and ski enthusiasts scarce to non-existent, very little of the housing in the entire market is affordable compared with other ski resort areas.
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And as other graphs in Housing Need indicate, the situation in Taos is getting worse over time - again both absolutely in in comparison with other ski resort areas.
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The dynamic between housing and economic vibrancy is clear with ski resort areas, as the lack of housing causes an inability to capitalize on an opportunity to enhance community wealth. Tax revenues are minimized in Taos, resulting in financial limitations for government to serve the people's needs as well as provide the incentives requisite to diversify the economy and attract new jobs in a variety of industries.
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That double ouroborus results in a vicious cycle that then creates and then perpetuates generational poverty.
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