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FAIRMONT-- A more comprehensive review of the housing study that was recently done in Fairmont by Bowen National Research was presented earlier this week. Blight and affordability concerns and an overall lack of housing were identified in the study.
Patrick Bowen presented to both the The Fairmont Economic Development Authority (FEDA) board and members of the Fairmont City Council.
He prefaced the presentation by saying that in addition to looking at housing, community services, residential blight, developmental opportunities and costs, government regulations, best practices and more relevant information was also looked at as part of the survey process.
Looking at different age groups, Bowen said virtually all of Fairmont's growth is in households aged 75 and older.
"It's really not that much different than a lot of the markets throughout the country," he said. "The 45 to 54 age group and 35 to 44 age group, we don't have any projected growth. A lot of markets around the country, we do see some growth there. That's the millennials for the most part... we've found-- and it's no different in Fairmont than in a lot of rural communities around the country-- a lot of younger people are heading back to the cities for employment, cultural, social, whatever it may be."
Looking at renter household growth, in Fairmont, growth is projected for households earning more than $50,000, but nearly 60 percent of renter households will still earn less than $50,000 in 2030.
"That's the bulk of your renter households so we don't want to forget them," said Bowen.
For owner households, the most projected growth is in households earning $75,000 a year with more growth in those making more than $150,000 a year.
Speaking more to why the income thresholds matter, Bowen shared that housing cost burdened households pay over 30 percent of income toward housing and in Fairmont that accounts for 1,324 households. Severe housing cost burdened households pay over 50 percent of income toward housing and that accounts for 458 in Fairmont.
"When you spend that much on your housing... it's less money that you have on other essentials and if you think of it from an economic standpoint, the more they spend on housing the less they spend on retail, stores and restaurants here in the community," Bowen said.
As far as multifamily rental housing, of the seven studied, there were 254 units with only 9 vacant, putting the vacancy rate at 96.5 percent.
"You typically want to be about 94 to 96 percent," Bowen said. "You're a little short of where you want to be for a balanced market."
Moving to talk about commuting patterns, data shows that 3,100 people commute to Fairmont everyday for work, 2,700 live and work here and another 2,300 leave the area for work.
"This is pretty significant in first off, more than half of the people that work here, don't live here, and why that is relevant to a housing study is, when you have a lot of people coming into a community to work... you don't have a lot of housing to choose from," Bowen said.
He said about half of the 3,1000 are between 30 and 54 and half make over $3,300 a month.
"Short of them buying lunch and running some basic errands, they're taking these earnings back out of town and that's not good for the local economy," Bowen said. "Certainly housing plays a role in why someone would choose or not choose to live in a community."
Looking at current availability, there are 43 homes available, 55 percent of all homes listed in the county, making the availability rate 1.4 percent.
"You typically want to be about 2 to 3 percent. You're below where you want to be," Bowen said.
He added that the lack of housing is even more pronounced in the balance of county with a 0.5 percent availability rate, indicating a county-wide housing shortage.
As for their price points, in Fairmont, most homes are priced under $300,000 with very few listed over that amount.
"That's relevant too... I showed you in an earlier slide that the most projected growth for owner households is those making more than $175,000," Bowen said. "You don't have a lot of homes for those more affluent folks who are here or would come to this area. You really need more housing across the whole spectrum of affordability."
Bowen also shared the top 35 occupations in the area, which included cashiers, retail salespeople, fast food workers, waitresses, office clerks, customer service, secretaries and accountants. The median wage range for these positions went from $33,000 to $90,000 for manager positions.
"The workforce is really struggling to rent or buy here," he said, adding that this is one wage earner and that in most cases two would be needed in order to afford housing.
Moving to a big finding in the study, Bowen touched on residential blight. He said that in a drive through of the town conducted by his staff, 124 blighted residential structures were identified, with over three-quarters showing minor or moderate blight. Therefore just under a quarter were classified as having sever blight.
"That's about 2.4 percent of your housing stock," Bowen said of the blighted structures. "Anything over 1 percent is considered high. This is probably the second or third highest blight rate I've ever seen."
Toward the end of the presentation, Bowen talked about developmental opportunities and said that there are abundant sites, about 20, which may or may not be desirable. However he said land costs are a bit higher here than other communities they've looked at.
"Those costs are higher here so if a developer was looking here... it may serve as a deterrent for someone to choose this market," he said.
To close out the presentation, he shared the housing gap, which shows a total rental housing gap of 264 and a total for-sale housing gap of 170 for a total of 434 units in the housing gap.
In sharing recommended housing strategies, Bowen encouraged those present to have employers be a part of the housing conversation. He also said that housing goals and priorities should be established and residential blight and housing quality should be targeted though he questioned the city staff's capacity for it so suggested another organization, such as HRA or Habitat for Humanity, may have the capacity to help.