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Old 05-20-2012, 10:42 PM
 
Location: North Dakota
394 posts, read 1,165,791 times
Reputation: 231

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We should have also passed a law setting the maximum wage anyone can make. I mean there are a lot of small businesses who can't afford to pay their employees with the oil boom going on. I think $12 an hour sounds about like the right number. Agreed?
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Old 05-21-2012, 05:37 AM
 
49 posts, read 125,819 times
Reputation: 113
Quote:
Originally Posted by JanND View Post
This can't be laid on the shoulders of the oil companies. The blame lies with your fellow North Dakotans you elected into office. They are the ones who refused to increase housing options and failed to beef up the infrastructure needed to support the housing demand.
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Old 05-21-2012, 07:41 AM
 
Location: Yucaipa, California
9,894 posts, read 21,942,426 times
Reputation: 6845
Could the 5 clowns on the city commission been able to prevent this from happening ? I believe the morons could of but chose not to. City of Williston, North Dakota - City Commission
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Old 05-21-2012, 08:38 AM
 
16,235 posts, read 25,095,502 times
Reputation: 27047
When an area has oil companies buying whole hotels and apartment buildings before they are even completed to house their employess....WTH do you think will happen to rents. Just like what has happened to minimum wage jobs....They don't exist in the Bakken anymore. There are businesses closing because they can't keep employees even at twice the minimum wage scale. No one business can compete w/ the oil money for wages.
Now, you are right on one level...the housing shortage can't be blamed on one entity.
So, I stand corrected, it isn't just the oil companies. ...it is a wide combination of past experiences in this Region, along w/ the demand....and the higher cost of living for everyone. There are untold threads addressing this issue as it relates to several variables. Only one of which is the City Commission.
There are also many articles, and the Williston web page that addresses the fact that there has been constant building...there is even a housing summitt article in the construction thread. What Williston failed to increase were more temporary housing that didn't have infrastructure, sewers, water, utilities. Why would the Oil Companies put up tempoary housing, instead of apartment bldg, or real hosuing....causing oil play is a gamble....always has been always will be.
So, I ask this...knowing the shortage, knowing how much money will be made by those coming here for oil field jobs. Why aren't at least a good portion of oil field workers building/buying houses themselves??
And, the answer....and one of the many variables to why Williston hasn't built even more is...Because many of these workers pay mortgages in other states, and truly have no intention of investing in our communities beyond renting or parking an RV. So....it is a vicious cycle.
How would one entity solve this? Might be a good thread suggestion....Go for it
:Bakken Housing Summit

City of Williston, North Dakota - Homepage

http://www.cityofwilliston.com/Depar...BNP&PageID=116

http://www.cityofwilliston.com/Depar...BNP&PageID=118

Quote:
Originally Posted by misc1972 View Post
This can't be laid on the shoulders of the oil companies. The blame lies with your fellow North Dakotans you elected into office. They are the ones who refused to increase housing options and failed to beef up the infrastructure needed to support the housing demand.

Last edited by JanND; 05-21-2012 at 08:47 AM..
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Old 05-21-2012, 08:41 AM
 
Location: North Dakota
454 posts, read 937,719 times
Reputation: 340
Quote:
Originally Posted by misc1972 View Post
This can't be laid on the shoulders of the oil companies. The blame lies with your fellow North Dakotans you elected into office. They are the ones who refused to increase housing options and failed to beef up the infrastructure needed to support the housing demand.
The blame can be passed around to all three: The oil companies, the legislature, and the greedy landlords.

If the oil companies weren't gobbling up every available unit for their employees, shortage of affordable housing wouldn't be an issue. I have felt for a long time that it should be the oil companies responsibility to provide 75% of their own housing needs, not doing so just puts the hurt on the locals who are working the service jobs and causing more friction between the locals and the oil workers.

If the legislature would have had any foresight at all, they would have seen this coming and at least tried to mitigate the situation to some degree.

Greedy landlords will not be forgotten when all is said and done. You reap what you sow in this life. Small town people have memories like elephants.

I would really like to read follow up stories on the people who were living in this complex - where did they go? Having your rent go from $900 to $2500 is ridiculous and unaffordable to most people not working in the oil business, then to get the final blow of just being kicked to the curb like yesterdays smelly trash with a months notice to get out is shameful and embarrassing.
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Old 05-21-2012, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
5,509 posts, read 11,828,241 times
Reputation: 2501
So if somebody came in and built an apartment complex that charged $1000-$1500 rents, there would be demand for that? I wish I were a developer, or at least could afford to purchase rental properties, because even though I'd be in the business of making some money for myself, I would LOVE to undercut the competition and provide housing for people who can't afford it.....all while making a living! I can't believe this hasn't been done yet -- but I'm sure I'm missing some key information!
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Old 05-21-2012, 05:44 PM
 
Location: C-U metro
1,368 posts, read 3,204,601 times
Reputation: 1192
Quote:
Originally Posted by west336 View Post
So if somebody came in and built an apartment complex that charged $1000-$1500 rents, there would be demand for that? I wish I were a developer, or at least could afford to purchase rental properties, because even though I'd be in the business of making some money for myself, I would LOVE to undercut the competition and provide housing for people who can't afford it.....all while making a living! I can't believe this hasn't been done yet -- but I'm sure I'm missing some key information!
You are assuming that building materials in the Bakken area are cheap as they are in Cleveland. I assure you that the cost of building materials in the oil patch is 2 to 3 times higher. Also, the price of land is outrageous for little reason other than the owner thinks some oil company will pay it. Most of the producers are here now so there really isn't much of a market to sell to them, ie. they already bought in. So now, the poor retail investor or commercial investor is having to pay high prices for the land which drives up the price of the home or building rent they have to charge to make a buck. Also, the guy or girl swinging a hammer needs more than $20/hr and a place to sleep or you'll lose him to someone else.

There are people who do want to move to the area perminantly but they don't want to pay or can't afford the 200k to get into the market. Either they don't make enough (ie. service type jobs) or they work for the production company which pays less, but has better benefits than, the trucking or drilling companies. That may be the best part about the Euro crisis is that lending will be frozen up and the Bakken will have a slower period than now. It will give the towns a chance to catch up for 6 months.
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Old 05-21-2012, 06:58 PM
 
Location: Yucaipa, California
9,894 posts, read 21,942,426 times
Reputation: 6845
I bet the puke politicians are getting cash from the greedy oil companies. The pathetic landlords should be ashamed of themselves. What goes around will surely come around.
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Old 05-22-2012, 10:06 AM
 
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
5,509 posts, read 11,828,241 times
Reputation: 2501
That's what's great about places like ND, MT, MN, WI, etc....the people can handle ANY weather. I hail from Minneapolis myself so the weather wouldn't shock me so much, and it's close enough to "home" that I think I could handle the relo if I got homesick. But yeah, people from CA, FL, anywhere in the Sunbelt or any major city that doesn't get "REAL cold" is going to have a serious culture shock, one would think!! Definitely not for the faint of heart!
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Old 05-22-2012, 12:41 PM
 
113 posts, read 230,431 times
Reputation: 49
I've worked in the winter in WA, MN and WI and it's not for everyone.
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