Sanders, Mineral counties to craft housing plan

A few months ago, residents of Mineral and Sanders counties were asked to fill out a survey via social media, word of mouth and from an article in this newspaper on individual opinions concerning housing.

Many interesting and fun facts about both counties were discovered or verified: Mineral County with a population of 4,341 (Source: US Census, 2020 estimates) has a median age of 52.3. A median household income of $45,704 with 34% graduating from high school.

Sanders County with a population of 11,738 (Source: US Census, 2020 estimates) has a median age of 52.8. A median household income of $36,396 with 41% high school graduates.

Both counties have an average household of 2.2 people, 9% that did not complete high school and 18% who have a college degree.

Median home value in Mineral County is $198,152 and $237,107 in Sanders. 241 total business with 1,652 employees in Mineral and 654 businesses with 6,256 employees in Sanders.

The survey was created by Buddy Borden, GB Consulting, and it was funded by both Mineral and Sanders counites in conjunction with a grant. The survey is the first step in the Sanders and Mineral County 5-Year Housing Plan with the Mineral County Economic Coalition managing the project for Mineral County. The Human Resource Council out of Missoula serves Missoula, Ravalli and Mineral counties with a plethora of housing services and they were in attendance when the group broke into work sessions for each county.

They recently purchased the former Wells Fargo Bank in Superior and will be moving their local offices to this location soon.

Borden said that this workshop is not a wish list.

“Input from everyone is needed which will be processed and discussed. What are the most important housing needs? Single family owner occupied? Rental units? Senior housing? Are your prospective infrastructures capable of handling more units or do we need to talk about beefing up the foundation and then housing? Whatever you decide, not me, this is going to be a step by step plan that will not go onto a shelf and collect dust. This is the future for Sanders and Mineral Counties.”

This was the first of many discussion meetings and was held on the Sanders County Fairgrounds with 17 enthused participants from Sanders and 12 from Mineral. More workshops will be scheduled and 3 goals for each county will be finalized.