Temporary housing has been a hot topic in northwestern North Dakota for several years as communities continually struggle to accommodate the thousands of new residents who have converged on the region to power the Bakken’s energy boom. Whether described as man camps, crew camps, workforce housing, or extended-stay hotels, temporary lodging has come to be viewed by some as a necessary evil that should exist only until permanent housing is built; others see it as the solution to what may be a long-term, but still temporary, population explosion.
As other counties throughout the region grapple with how to prepare for an onslaught of construction workers as large projects such as fertilizer plants and diesel refineries are built, the topic of temporary versus permanent housing is no longer just a Williston Basin issue. Do you encourage new developments with the hopes of attracting new permanent residents, or do you embrace temporary housing? If you allow temporary housing, how do you control the quality of the operations? It’s up to each county to determine regulations and housing strategies, but thanks to the last several years of boom times in western North Dakota, there are now examples for others to learn from.
Heart of the matter
Williams County, which includes the city of Williston, has had the often unenviable experience of being the epicenter of the largest oil boom of our time. For half a decade, the county has served as Ground Zero for magnificent growth, and all of its side effects. Crew camp lodges and RV parks of varying degrees of quality began springing up seemingly overnight as the boom began and provided shelter for workers when other housing wasn’t available. They have now become common sights along the roadways of Williams County, but county officials would prefer to limit, and eventually eliminate, temporary housing in favor of newly built permanent residences. In 2011, the county placed a moratorium on new temporary housing units while it evaluated options and growth patterns, allowing only those with previously approved permits to operate. After two years of deliberations, the commission recently decided to gradually phase-out existing temporary housing facilities. As part of the decision, RV parks in the county will be allowed to operate only until October 2014. Other temporary housing facilities must apply for conditional use permits and, if approved, will be allowed to operate until 2015.Frustrating situation
For operators of temporary housing facilities, the county’s delayed decision making has meant two years of uncertainty and frustration. Target Logistics, the largest provider of turnkey workforce housing in the U.S., provides more than 4,000 beds in the state, about half of which are spread throughout seven facilities within Williams County. Travis Kelly, Target Logistics’ North Dakota region vice president, says that as a resident of Williston he understands the county’s desire to re-evaluate the housing situation and encourage permanent residents to join the community, but he is frustrated with the length of time the county took to make a decision and believes that eliminating temporary housing is not the most effective way to encourage workers to make the Williston Basin their permanent home.“I understand the desire for growth in the community,” he says. “I get it. The more rooftops you get in, the more attractive of a community it is to bring in some of the larger department stores, which is going to enhance the quality of life and hopefully attract more families. But I think that’s going to happen naturally. You will attract some families to come here and make it home, it’s just not going to be at the scale the county would like.”
Of the more than 2,500 beds under Target Logistics roofs in Williams County, the number of vacant spaces at those facilities in mid-July numbered in the single digits. Target Logistics’ properties are consistently fully booked in the area but Kelly says he agrees with the county’s position that the market for temporary lodging in Williams County is fairly saturated, adding that if it were allowed to expand, Target Logistics would only add about 100 to 200 new beds in the Williston area. However, he emphasizes that the existing temporary housing serves a legitimate need, which will continue for several years, and offers more positives than negatives to the region. For example, while it is widely held that the Williston Basin boom will last for at least 20 years, should the boom suddenly go bust, temporary facilities are made to be moved and leave no lasting impact on the county’s infrastructure, whereas permanent housing would be vacated and left to the community to deal with. And while there may be a portion of workers who would like to obtain permanent housing, many of the region’s newcomers are working their way out of debt and need time to establish good credit history before they can qualify for financing to buy a home. “I think there are people who want to make this their home and be back together as a family, but it’s going to take a little more time,” he says. “You don’t crawl out of debt to purchase a home in 12 months.”
Kelly says another concern he has with the county’s phase-out plan is that there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable plan to accommodate residents of RV parks elsewhere when those camps are banned. “I think they’ve painted themselves into a corner somewhat in the fact that by the time the RVs have to go, those folks either have to buy a home, find an apartment to lease, or they’re just gone all together,” he says. “And we know that’s not going to happen. They’ll just find a better place to hide.”
Uncertain impacts
Will the hiding place become surrounding counties that do not have the same types of restrictions in place? That remains to be seen, but it is a likely possibility. Ray Pacheco, Williams County planning director, says he’s not sure what impact the county’s phase-out plan will have on bordering counties and that the counties have not worked together to develop to a regional plan. “County and city planners are so busy that it’s hard to get together and brainstorm or come up with solutions,” he says. “There are a lot of good things you can take from other counties. We just don’t have a lot of time to sit and chat.”Pacheco says he hasn’t heard any complaints from temporary housing operators regarding the phase-out plan, but he also agrees that temporary facilities are a necessary solution to Williams County’s housing issues, at least for now. “Until housing prices and rent prices drop, it will be hard for a lot of these companies to kick their employees out in a sense and say, ‘Now you have to go find an apartment,’ when nobody can afford the rent,” he says. “Just because [apartments and houses] are available, it doesn’t mean these guys are going to rush in and rent them, especially if they’re trying to bring their families here. The prices are just way too high at this point.”
With available housing priced out of the individual buyer’s range and temporary housing options eliminated, Kelly suggests that the outcome will be hundreds of unregulated “mini-man camps” consisting of houses that have been purchased by oil companies and used to provide lodging for a handful of workers. “That’s not how you grow a community,” he says. “I think the misconception is that if the oil company buys the house they’ll have the guy’s family move up and live in the house. That’s just not going to happen.”
Different state, same situation
Communities within the Permian Basin of Texas have been dealing with oil booms and busts since the 1920s. Compared to the Williston Basin, communities there have more infrastructure in place to accommodate new cycles of activity, but despite decades of experience, they continue to confront housing shortages with each boom and utilize temporary housing, to some extent, to fill the gap. Guy Edwards, economic development director for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, says access to affordable housing is the No. 1 problem in the region and he expects it will be several years before available housing meets demand. He anticipates that when the housing supply catches up to demand, not all workers will seek permanent housing and some may not qualify for financing, so temporary housing will continue to serve a purpose for those workers. Odessa requires building permits for all temporary housing facilities, including RV parks, but the county does not, so most of the temporary housing in the county is located outside of city limits, he says.According to Pecos Mayor Venetta Seals, available housing in the tiny town has become nearly non-existent and rental prices have skyrocketed, making temporary housing a necessity. Neither Pecos nor its county has restrictions on temporary housing, however, “we really don’t want any more,” she says. Currently, Pecos has one 200-bed facility in town. Three others are located outside city limits. Illegally parked RVs, of which there are many, are a major issue for the townspeople. Seals says she agrees that workforce housing provides a temporary means to an end, but the city would prefer to encourage the development of permanent housing at the risk of overbuilding. While she initially voted to allow workforce housing within the city, she does not anticipate approving plans for additional temporary housing units to be built within city limits. “I don’t know that I’d really want another one because we need those plots for permanent housing,” she says.
Plan ahead
Williams County may not have had the luxury of preplanning for its population explosion and the pros and cons of temporary housing, but Kelly and Pacheco recommend that communities in our region that are able to prepare for a sudden influx of workers can learn from what the county has been through and use that experience to their advantage.For example, Kelly recommends that communities invite operators to the table to discuss what is possible and what is not when it comes to temporary housing facilities. “Education is a big thing,” he says. “I love to meet with communities and help them out. I understand as a resident what I’d like to see and what I wouldn’t like to see, but I also know what’s feasible and what is not.” He also urges other communities to put ordinances in place ahead of time and to establish permit fees for temporary housing and collect those fees before facilities are built. “That’s one thing Williams County didn’t do and it allowed a lot of these people who didn’t have any desire to operate a camp to go through the permitting process, get it ready and then try to dump it off on a third party that has no real vested interest in it,” he says.
Pacheco says he is willing to speak with fellow planners who are confronting similar issues to try to help resolve issues they may be facing. “Getting out of the office is not always the easiest thing when you’re going 24 hours a day on a job, but somehow it needs to be done.” PB
Written By: Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business
Source: http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/15389/
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