Every day, I talk to employers in Mesa County who are facing the same quiet crisis: they can’t find or keep workers—not because the jobs aren’t there, but because housing affordability keeps pushing those workers out.
We talk a lot about economic development, talent pipelines, and business vitality. But none of those goals are sustainable when our teachers, nurses, service staff, and technicians are working 100 hours a month just to afford a mortgage. Let that sink in—100 hours. That’s what it takes today to cover the cost of an average home in Mesa County, according to a recent report by the Common Sense Institute.
That number has more than doubled since 2015, when it took just 47 hours a month to make the same payment. In less than a decade, the time cost of housing has jumped 111%—and our workforce is paying that cost with their time, their health, and in many cases, their presence in this community.
The same report shows that Mesa County experienced the steepest decline in housing affordability of any county in Colorado, with the “Homebuyer Misery Index” climbing 82.4% since 2015. The name alone should tell you something—and for the people who power our economy, it feels all too accurate.
It’s not just the hours. It’s the emotional and financial fatigue. When a person’s entire work month revolves around staying housed, there’s little energy left for anything else. That breeds burnout. And burnout breeds turnover,
disengagement, and—ultimately—departure. If we don’t break this cycle, we won’t just lose workers; we’ll lose entire families, businesses, and pieces of what makes our community vibrant and resilient.
What worries me most is the growing sense of resignation. Young professionals assume they’ll never buy a home. Mid-career workers are looking elsewhere. Business owners are spending more time recruiting and less time growing. We are losing not just momentum—we are losing confidence.
Let me be clear: this isn’t about one bad policy or one boom-and-bust cycle. It’s about the need for a proactive, collective response. At the Chamber, we believe housing is not just a social issue—it’s an economic development priority. If people can’t live here, they can’t work here. And if they can’t work here, businesses can’t grow here.
We need to shift our mindset—and fast.
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We must prioritize workforce housing designed for the people earning 60–120% of the area median income. The range of need is wide and solutions need to be just as diverse.
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We need to identify any zoning and regulatory barriers that prevent us from building smaller, more diverse housing options while keeping a healthy mix of single and multi-family developments in the pipeline.
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We should expand local incentives to support developments that truly promote income-aligned housing.
And employers, too, have a role to play—through partnerships, relocation assistance, and innovative housing solutions tied to retention.
This isn’t about lowering standards—it’s about raising our level of urgency.
Mesa County has a chance to lead. We can be a region that responds, that adapts, that invests in the long game of economic sustainability. But that requires commitment—from public and private leaders alike.
The Chamber stands ready to work with builders, nonprofits, city officials, and business owners to get ahead of this crisis before it gets further ahead of us. Because when housing no longer works for workers, the whole system breaks.
Let’s choose to fix it. Together.