The lack of affordable housing in Teton County is affecting state agencies like the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
The cost of family homes in Jackson skyrocketing is proving to be a problem in recruiting Game and Fish employees. John Kennedy, Game and Fish deputy director, said the commission has discussed a couple of potential solutions. Those include purchasing homes for employees or building employee housing in Jackson. Kennedy said all of these options are pretty costly and has brought up the question of needing employees in Jackson.
"My feeling is that we will maintain a level of presence in Jackson. It could be slightly different than it is now. But we will have employees in Jackson. We do have some positions that could work from somewhere else, where there's a little bit more affordable housing," said Kennedy.
Kennedy said the department is also dealing with a fairness issue as a result.
"This would be one region where we would be providing support for employees with housing, and we don't do that in in our other regions for for all the regional employees. So that's a challenge," he said
Kennedy said a final decision hasn't been made. The next move is a meeting with the Wyoming Department of Transportation, another state agency dealing with similar problems to see if a solution can be created together.
The Game and Fish commission wants to see progress on the issue as soon as January.
Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Kamila Kudelska, at kkudelsk@uwyo.edu.