Building Missing Middle Workforce Housing in Jackson, Wyoming

Building Missing Middle Workforce Housing in Jackson, Wyoming

440 West Kelly offers 12 condominiums developed to increase affordable homeownership opportunities for the local workforce in Jackson County, Wyoming, where high home prices extend commute times for workers priced out of the market. Credit: David Stubbs Photography

Resort communities often face unique affordability challenges, especially in areas where buildable land is scarce and demand for second homes and short-term rental properties exerts upward pressure on housing costs. As a result, many members of the local workforce can find the cost of owning or renting a home in their community prohibitive. In response to these housing challenges, the town of Jackson, Wyoming, seat of Teton County and home to less than 25,000 residents, is pursuing projects aimed at giving local workers a shot at affordable homeownership in one of the nation's most expensive housing markets. Completed in 2023, 440 West Kelly adds 12 condominium units to Jackson's downtown area, providing needed housing to local workers while demonstrating how well-designed multifamily projects can fit into the prevailing style and character of an area renowned for its natural beauty.

Project Details

The 440 West Kelly development emerged through a public-private partnership. The town of Jackson purchased and provided the land for the project, which was developed by J. Roller Development and designed by the Post Company. The building hosts 10 two-bedroom units and 2 one-bedroom units; 10 of the condominiums are owner-occupied, and 2, purchased by local businesses, rent to qualified households. The development cost of $7.5 million was funded through a $1.7 million subsidy from the town and conventional financing for the remainder. 

Although the development does not impose formal income limits, other restrictions ensure that 440 West Kelly is serving its intended purpose. First, the resale costs of the units are deed restricted to appreciate by no more than 3 percent annually. This limitation ensures that the units remain affordable even as ownership changes. It also functions as a de facto assurance that the units sell to residents who would struggle to afford a home in Jackson on the open market — in recent years, the median home price in Jackson reached $2.2 million and the mean price rose to $3.8 million. In contrast, the most expensive units at 440 West Kelly sold for slightly less than $900,000, reported Jacob Roller, principal of J. Roller Development, emphasizing that although this figure might be high in many other areas of the country, in Teton County, it represents a real homeownership opportunity for a neglected market segment that is crucial for the town's functioning. Among the first cohort of owners are medical professionals, architects, and small business owners, said Roller.

According to Roller, the appreciation limitation is sufficient to disincentivize higher-income households who can afford the unrestricted market from purchasing these units, because Jackson's open market housing is anticipated to appreciate at rates exceeding 3 percent. The second protection ensuring that these units help the Teton County workforce is the requirement that owners use the property as their primary residence and earn their income locally from jobs that require their physical presence, meaning that remote workers, second homeowners, or people seeking a short- or long-term rental property are ineligible.

Addressing Affordability in a High-Cost Resort Community

Although Teton County covers more than 4,000 square miles, 97 percent of this land is protected from development through inclusion in national parks or conservation easements. The lack of developable land, combined with the area's popularity among wealthy second homeowners, created a challenge even for local workers earning otherwise comfortable incomes. The scarcity of affordable homeownership units has generated significant consequences for the community. Some county workers endure commutes of up to 2 hours, which can become impossible in the winter when heavy snowstorms hit.

The building's cedar exterior reflects the area's traditional character and natural heritage. Photo courtesy of Post Company

To address this need, Jackson and Teton County's comprehensive plan, adopted in 2012, aims to house a minimum of 65 percent of the workforce locally, focusing subsidy resources on full-time, year-round workers, and using public land for affordable and workforce housing. At the time the plan was adopted, only 62 percent of the county workforce lived nearby, housed in nearly 1,500 income-restricted units and market-rate units. To further progress toward the workforce housing goal, the county adopted a Workforce Housing Action Plan in 2015 and updated its downtown zoning in July 2018 to allow higher-density development in certain transitional areas as well as deed-restricted workforce housing — all necessary groundwork that made 440 West Kelly possible.

The town wanted to ensure that 440 West Kelly would demonstrate stylistic compatibility with the area's built and natural heritage. Project design thus took on a special importance to ensure that 440 West Kelly will "respect and enhance the character and cohesiveness of existing residential neighborhoods." To achieve this goal, the Post Company used a cedar wood exterior, which will weather and evolve over time, along with building massing intended to "break down" the overall scale of the building to better align with the existing neighborhood.

Although the fundamental dynamics of resort communities mean that housing affordability will remain an ongoing challenge for the local workforce, Teton County is making progress. Since 2014, the county has added 411 units of workforce housing, with 358 more planned. Thanks to 440 West Kelly, homeownership opportunities are now part of the housing mix serving locals who help their community thrive.