Another blink of an eye and another year’s gone by. Good riddance 2021. You were better than your predecessor, but not by much. We’re still fighting over vaccines and masks and volunteer boards and voting rules and a whole lot more. Any hope that the pandemic would somehow bring Americans together is dashed.
Now, in the Flathead, we’re staring down 2022 with more questions than answers. Here are just a few:
Will the influx of newcomers continue?
The United States grew by just 0.1% between 2020 and 2021, according to the Census Bureau’s latest estimates, the lowest rate since the nation’s founding. Meanwhile, Montana grew by 1.7% and added about 20,000 people. That’s second in percentage growth among states (behind Idaho and tied with Utah). The Mountain West and its accompanying wide-open spaces have lured transplants from all over, but now it is far less affordable than prior to the pandemic.
Will housing prices continue to rise?
They can’t, right? Western Montana, and Flathead County in particular, has seen some of the largest cost-of-living increases in the country, which can largely be attributed to skyrocketing rent and home prices. Several local multi-housing units are either in the works or have already broken ground. Whether it’s enough to catch up with demand remains to be seen. But our working class is reaching a breaking point.
Will the end of the pandemic finally come into focus?
I’m over it and so is everybody else, especially our health care workers. Our elected officials say there will be no more lockdowns, despite the highly contagious COVID-19 omicron variant quickly spreading across the country. With any luck, this will be the final wave and the combination of vaccinations and herd immunity will end the outbreak once and for all … finally.
Will the losers still have faith in the 2022 election?
In case you forgot, 2022 is an election year. But a lot of people, including several Montana Republicans, are still questioning the 2020 results even though the GOP swept every contested statewide race. Now congressional Democrats are talking about passing federal voting standards over Republican objections. Can anyone lose (or win) gracefully anymore?
Will local tourism ebb?
The Flathead Valley has never felt as crowded as last summer when a combination of cabin fever and international COVID-19 rules drove tourists to our region in record numbers. Glacier National Park implemented a ticketed-entry system to access the Going-to-the-Sun Road for the first time. That system will be expanded in 2022 to include the Polebridge area. With countries across the world slowly reopening to travelers, will fewer Americans vacation domestically? Or, with the growing number of direct flights to the area, will summers in Northwest Montana be crowded in perpetuity?
Who will serve everyone?
The increased cost of living has only exacerbated a staffing shortage that began to take root in the early days of the pandemic. Some of the area’s residents have been priced out and others left the workforce altogether. Newcomers, many of them second-home owners and telecommuters, demand services. What happens when there’s no one willing to provide them?
Will the upcoming year be better than last?
I’ll end this column the same way I ended a similar one last year: “The bar is low.”