Why Alaska Is Overcrowded

this is Anchorage Alaska the northern most heavily populated city in all of North America and when it comes to the massively sized state of Alaska Anchorage is as big bright and bustling a metropolitan as you will ever find from the five-story luxury shopping center on West Fifth Avenue to Modern museums cultural exhibitions Landmark institutions and fine dining alongside popular Staples like Starbucks McDonalds and raising canes and even a couple Target and Costco locations Anchorage feels like a legitimate big city even with it being located off the Alaskan Alpine slopes north of other far north cities like Stockholm St Petersburg and Helsinki but with less than 300,000 residents Anchorage is only a big city for the sparsely populated state of Alaska and if Anchorage were located in the lower 48 it would be something like the 10th biggest Texas city or a mid-tier Ohio Metropolitan meaning that in terms of population Anchorage sits somewhere between the bright lights of Albuquerque New Mexico and the subtle cityscape of Santa Fe despite Anchorage making up 60% of Alaska's economy and more than 40% of its residential population so you can only imagine just how empty the rest of Alaska really is with Fairbanks Alaska's second biggest city and the primary Supply station for its booming oil industry having just 32,000 residents and its capital city of Juno having less than 32,000 residents but don't let Alaska's little big cities fool you Anchorage lies at the heart of Alaska's costly highway system with America second busiest and the world's fourth busiest airport critical to domestic cargo transportation and crucial to international travel but really all of these Alaskan cities are far more important than similarly sized cities in the lower 48 and yet there's really only one factor that strangely but completely separates Alaskan cities from cities of otherwise comparable scale they are massively overcrowded with the biggest alasan cities and modest more remote communities facing levels of housing scarcity and dangerous housing inequality reminiscent of Portland Seattle and Southern California of course it isn't the same kind of scarcity that you'd see in overpopulated us growth cities but the underlying reasons can be surprisingly similar see cities like Portland and Seattle are experiencing a housing crisis for one foundational reason and a few more underlying reasons it comes down to there not being enough affordable housing to address demand while midsized homes are being sold at significant premiums or listed on short-term rent apps like Airbnb while significant new constru uction and the overdevelopment of expensive luxury housing has led to a market where there are very few homes available and even fewer homes Within Reach of the middle class and that's as much the case in Anchorage Fairbanks wasila and Sitka as it is in Seattle Washington perhaps even more so with Alaska being more remote and with its housing crisis being spread out across several different cities in a single state that's larger than most of the world's countries as Alaska has become America's most overcrowded State certainly in terms of housing this despite it having the nation's lowest population density with just 1.3 people for every square mile with the rate of household overcrowding there being more than double the US average and with numerous reports of 10 15 and even 20 people living in single moderately sized Alaskan homes while prices for What Little inventory exists there keep outpacing middle class budgets further depleting historically strained affordability in a state where everything has always been at least a little more expensive especially when you consider that the housing short there and in America in general is mostly just a shortage of affordable housing with housing stocks for luxury homes typically being readily available while many Builders continue to focus their efforts on expensive and difficult to finance builds in pre-planned communities again a massive problem across all the United States but especially in Alaska with just 1,676 homes available for purchase in all of the state with housing scarcity happening as much in places like Badger Palmer and South Lakes as it is in the state's economic core in Anchorage while the rental market there has suffered even more with monthly rates shifting fast upwards in Alaskan cities of all sizes without the traditional economic and population pressures that typically pushes that level of strain this is because overcrowding in a state that's more than double the size of Texas but with a total population that's smaller than just the city Corps of Indianapolis Indiana is especially negatively impactful not only because Alaska depends heavily on its working population but also because America really depends heavily on Alaska and Alaska's historically stagnant population and aging demographics are becoming more and more problematic as the housing shortage there becomes an outright housing problem as basic population growth often depends on either an affordable cost of living or strong wages capable of addressing increasingly unaffordable housing that's why Alaska ended up losing about 4,000 residents over the past decade but Alaska's affordability issues Go Far Beyond housing and the housing problem there goes far beyond just affordability with housing conditions in small smaller communities being at least as critical as the housing shortage itself as thousands of Alaskan homes lack finished kitchens or modern plumbing while much of the state is rated as one star energy to the point where the association of Alaskan housing authorities argued that construction there will need to increase by 90% just a calm current demand but what's causing Alaska's housing crisis why is it so expensive there and what can be done to improve livability and affordability and what's becoming perhaps America's most important state and yes I said living costs not just housing costs because almost everything is getting even more expensive in the Last Frontier utilities are 49% higher than the national average food is 36% higher and household goods are 30% higher while workers in the Anchorage MSA only earn about 8% more than the national average and even as Alaska remains one of the more equal US states inequality has been rising steeply with out of control living costs leading to America's second least populated state spread across an area roughly 2 and 1 half times the size of France experiencing some of the nation's worst overcrowding when overcrowding should be the last concern for a place with the land mass and population of Alaska but Alaska's middle class simply can't afford adequate housing with multiple families cramming into small homes just to get by despite the state of Alaska receiving more federal aid than any state outside of West Virginia with federal funds accounting for 34% of its annual budget and yet Alaska just keeps growing more important to us interests meaning that changes there are almost inevitable not only because it holds significant strategic importance in valuable natural and environmental resources but also because Alaska plays a key role in American Logistics travel and geography sitting almost directly at the center of New York and Tokyo above the sparsely populated Pacific Ocean at the gates of the deeply petroliferous Arctic Circle making it a crucial link to the successful organization of daily life in America and perhaps the nation's single most valuable future resource and I'm not just talking about the state's 200 Placer mines and active rock quaries or the 18 million barrels of crude already drawn out of the prudo bay field or even Kono Phillips new Willow project no I'm talking about all of it Alaska is critical to international flight paths and the transport of valuable cargo it gives the US a valuable seat on the important Arctic Council it offers major military advantages and vast natural resources it made it possible for the US to claim new territory near the Bearing Sea and Alaska is a hub for commercial fishing rare Earth's extraction and scientific research with a growing tourism economy significant potential for sustainable energy and major potential for future Arctic Commerce but for everything that makes Alaska this valuable Frozen Oasis for everyone else it makes life for everyday alaskans more difficult with a value proposition that makes little sense for normal families paying more for everything from energy something their state is so important in producing to Everyday Goods that often move through Alaska but cost significantly more there but most importantly as Alaska's public media puts it the state is facing some of America's worst housing scarcity and household overcrowding while struggling through what I would call the nation's most complex housing market with rents that are grossly out of step with income and less homes available for purchase Statewide than an average siiz city in Ohio but what can Alaska even do to address its concerning housing shortage to make housing more available and therefore more affordable for the workingclass residents it needs most because until you can address the housing shortage there and the many ripples it's caused throughout Alaska's economy attracting new residents can be a tall order still while it's difficult to convince Builders to focus on low margin affordable housing growing public private programs that incentivize more affordable housing have had some effect and efforts like programs that bring more residential property online streamlining more tiny home retailers attracting more construction companies and repurposing unused commercial property all make some sense but to be honest leaders tend to find best measures to address their agenda when the agenda itself becomes a bigger priority

Channel: Something Different Films

Views: 79,504

Keywords: Something Different Films, Modern American Geography Demographics and Economics, Geography Alaska, Alaskan Economics, Alaska Overcrowded, Alaska Housing, Problems in Alaska, Why America Needs Alaska, The Future of Alaska, Life In Alaska

Id: N0zu-fnQqVg

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2024