Housing issues of all sorts are a hot topic nationally, not just in Grand Forks or North Dakota. I thought we could look at price levels for three different geographic regions. The first is the Grand Forks metro area since that is one of the topics most frequently mentioned in my appearances on the Jarrod Thomas Show (1310 KNOX radio in Grand Forks). The next area is North Dakota and the last is the United States as a whole.
There was a question from my radio appearance today about the number of renters compared with the number of owners in Grand Forks. At least, I think it was Grand Forks that the emailer asked about. If it was a different geography and they look at this post they can tell me it was something different.
Since housing seems to be a constant topic in Grand Forks I thought I would present some data. The data are consulted far too infrequently in this discussion in my opinion. We still do not address the issue in a proper manner. Price is not the problem, it is the symptom of a problem, if one actually exists. Just as your runny nose is not the problem, but a symptom of a virus, allergy or other issue. If we look to treat only the symptom, we may miss out on the opportunity to fix the source of a problem and things only get worse.
Housing is a common topic of discussion in Grand Forks. Many questions surround the topic, too many in fact. As a frequent contributor to the Jarrod Thomas program (1310 AM Grand Forks), I receive a fair share of these questions. For every question I answer, or attempt to answer, it seems like two take its place. All this because, as I maintained throughout these last few years, we are not asking appropriately defined questions.
Another comment I had at the roundtable had to do with the concerns about housing and housing policy. Sometimes it is the case that simple solutions exist to economic problems. However I do not think it is the case with housing.