The Bakken Boom Isn't for Everyone
People with moderate incomes aren't sharing the joy of the Bakken boom:
Along with them, listing prices for the few available homes in the region have gone up too, rising by nearly 27% in the past year to an average of $253,000, according to Realtor.com. Some rentals have gone up even more: A one-bedroom apartment in Williston, N.D., that rented for several hundred dollars a month before the boom now goes for $2,000.
That has left some residents—whose incomes only recently were adequate for their homes—feeling sidelined. Police dispatchers, teachers, municipal workers—and others in traditionally moderate-income jobs earn too little to keep up when it comes to paying for homes and apartments.
As a result, North Dakota towns such as Tioga and Watford City are grappling with challenges commonly faced by economically vibrant areas like San Francisco and New York in determining how to create affordable "workforce housing" for service-sector employees. The city of Williston paid $1.5 million in 2011 for a stake in an apartment complex in town, allowing it to control 77 units there and rent them cheaply to its employees. But it isn't enough.
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