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The town of Seeley Lake in western Montana is losing its largest employer, with the company claiming a housing shortage and unprecedented cost hikes are making it difficult to operate.
Pyramid Mountain Lumber Co., which has operated in Seeley Lake for 75 years, announced in a press release Thursday that it will cease operations and close its sawmill.
“As everyone at Pyramid knows, our company has been extremely hard hit by a variety of circumstances beyond our control,” the company said in a statement. “Labor shortages, housing shortages, unprecedented cost increases, plummeting lumber prices, and the cost of living in western Montana, among other issues, have crippled Pyramid’s ability to operate.”
Montana is one of many Western states facing rising prices and a housing shortage as people move from cities to small towns, in part due to increased remote work.Montana and Idaho were among them. fastest growing states From 2020 to 2022, home prices will increase by 60% across Montana from 2020 to 2023.
“We are the only other plant in Montana that has not closed or changed ownership in the past 100 years,” Pyramid said in a statement.
Pyramid Mountain Lumber did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Sen. Steve Daines and Sen. Jon Tester lamented the closure in a written statement. Local outlet KPAX. “This is devastating news for the Seeley Lake community and the entire state of Montana,” Daines said.
Communities across the Western world are feeling the pinch of rising costs in many ways. City officials in Steamboat Springs, a Colorado ski resort, recently told NBC that local government could not fill the position with a salary of $167,000 because potential candidates could not find housing. He said he couldn’t do it.
In Driggs, Idaho, another mountain town dealing with an influx of outsiders, many residents “left their homes because they could no longer afford to live here,” said Teton County Board of County Commissioners Chair Cindy. Riegel said.Driggs’ whereabouts had previously been reported. wall street journal.
“A lot of people have gone from a comfortable lifestyle to survival mode,” she says.
Are you a Montana resident worried about rising prices or a lack of affordable housing? Want to share your thoughts on how transplants are reshaping Montana? To this reporter The contact information is as follows: kvlamis@insider.com.