Housing problems keep piling up

An already-scarce housing situation just got more scarce, as recently the Creekside Apartments were sold to an out-of town-investor, who from the sounds of things plans to turn the apartments into more vacation rentals. Making matters worse is that the apartments aren’t empty. No, five tenants—including a single mother and an elderly couple—were given all of 30 days to get out and find a new place to live. Happy holidays.
At the same time that was happening, residents of Woodland Meadows Manufactured Home Park were coming before the Custer City Council, begging the council to help them thwart steep rate hikes in lot rent at the park. Those residents say the planned rate hikes are such that it will force many to sell their homes in the park. However, while many are for sale few are getting any bites as they say prospective buyers are scared away by the price of the lot rent. As one of them said at a council meeting, “we can’t afford to stay, and we can’t afford to leave.”
What these two situations appear to have in common is that people who do not live in Custer have purchased the properties, and have no connection to the town or the people whose lives they are at best making very difficult and at worst ruining. Throwing someone out on the street right before the holidays—and only giving them 30 days to vacate—is not exactly a strong way of ingratiating yourself to the community.
The whole vacation rental thing in this town has been beaten to death, and in our opinion, Custer needs more vacation rentals like it needs a hole in the head. What it needs is some stable, affordable housing for the people who live here, work here and raise a family here. There are literally over 100 vacation rentals in this county. We get that people can make a small fortune on vacation rentals, and we live in a capitalist society. But, at what point does humanity come in? At what point do we say, “People need a place to live?”
Those who sold the property are not at fault, and those assisting in the sale are not at fault. If there is fault, it’s laid at the feet of greed. People who open and build vacation rentals see only dollar signs, not the lack of housing. They would likely tell you it’s not their job to make sure everyone has a place to live, and they would be right. But like anything, it takes a village, and at some point someone will have to say enough is enough.
We have some very smart people working on the housing crisis in this county, and some relief is hopefully on the horizon with some planned affordable housing. The Custer City Council had the foresight to put a stop to allowing new vacation rentals in residential areas. We can now see why. We’ve now seen at least a few buildings come open in commercially-zoned land that was immediately snatched up to convert into vacation rentals. The council’s action at least stemmed the tide.
People are free to buy property and do what they wish with it. We only wish they could see how it is affecting the longtime residents who live in those properties. These people aren’t just dollar signs. They are human beings.