Dixie housing costs squeezing renters, others

ST. GEORGE — Soaring land and housing prices in Utah's Dixie have created winners among those who already own a home, as well as real estate professionals and those in the building industry.

But those same high prices are squeezing renters and pricing everyday workers like teachers, nurses, police and firefighters out of the market.

Jeremiah Skeem, 23, an employee at Discount Tire Co. in Washington, calls the area's home prices disheartening.

Skeem, who has a household income of $43,000, pays $600 a month in rent for a two-bedroom apartment, but high house prices have him considering a move back to his hometown of Delta.

"You keep hearing people say that home prices are overvalued, so you hope that they will come down," Skeem said. "If you can find a home under $200,000, that is a steal. Every once in a while you'll see one for $150,000 or $160,000, but usually it is just a shanty somewhere."

Carol Sapp, executive officer of the Southern Utah Home Builders Association, said sky-high housing prices have created a "work-force housing crisis."

"People aren't going to really listen until the 'haves,' those who have housing, can't get people to change their bedpans when they are in the hospital," Sapp said. "That's when they will begin to pay attention."

Some companies already have received that wake-up call.

"We ran into this problem about a year ago," said Ladel Laub of Dixie Escalante Electric, a nonprofit utility company providing service to clients throughout southern Utah. "We've been having a hard time recruiting and retaining people because of the high price of homes."

To help solve that problem, Laub said, the company developed a special housing allowance compensation plan for all its employees.

The program kicks in after a year of service and is stair-stepped to give employees up to $40,000 to be used toward purchasing a home. They can even take the full $40,000 up front by signing a loan agreement to pay the amount back with 5 percent interest if they quit the program early.

Employees repay the loan through the housing allowance they receive from the company. Those who stay with the company for 20 years or more wind up getting the best deal, because the housing loan and yearly housing allowance cancel each other out, Laub said.

"It's been very successful," he said. "Turnover is a real concern for anybody that has to invest in training people. We probably invest over $40,000 in training for our new people, and then we've had them leave for the same job and cheaper housing elsewhere.