This week on the Center of Everywhere hear researchers Phil Jensen and Kelly Asche discuss the topic of Phil’s newest report, “Why Grandma May Stay at Home: Property taxes and home ownership in rural Minnesota.”
Attracting workers to more rural parts of the state is a complex problem, but housing plays a major role. Encouraging workers to relocate to Greater Minnesota depends on the availability of housing. That availability is a product of turnover, or “churn,” where residents transition through different types of housing at different points in their lives. The rate of housing churn can be different in rural communities than in metropolitan areas. Previous work from CRPD has shown that rural housing stock is more likely to be occupied by older residents who are less likely to move. The result is slower churn, which leaves fewer single-family homes for new workers and their families.
Here we identify factors that may contribute to rural areas’ slower housing churn. These factors vary significantly across the rural-urban spectrum in Minnesota and may influence residents’ economic incentives regarding housing:
- Property taxes
- Non-tax ownership costs
- Higher rates of outright home ownership