When Paul Vogelheim was a student at Gonzaga University in the 1970s, he and his buddies drove to the ski mountain near Kellogg. They laughed at the resort’s name — Jackass Ski Bowl — and Kellogg seemed to them to be a depressing mining town.

So Vogelheim, who left Spokane after college here, was surprised to hear that Jackass Ski Bowl is now a destination resort called Silver Mountain. And Kellogg is no longer depressed; it’s booming.

But Vogelheim wasn’t surprised that workforce housing is a major issue for Kellogg and all of Shoshone County. Workers who support recreation and tourism often get priced out of the housing and apartment market. Vogelheim knows this firsthand because he lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., popular in summer with tourists on their way to national parks and popular in winter with skiers.

In Jackson Hole, Vogelheim is involved in affordable housing efforts, and he applauds Shoshone County for organizing early in the boom game. Community members have been talking for nearly two years about affordable housing, and they recently created the Shoshone County Housing Corp., a group that will focus more intently on housing solutions.

In Spokane, people are also looking ahead. A public-private collaborative group is behind the Borning Building in downtown Spokane. Its 50 apartments will offer sliding-scale rents from $364 to $630 a month. The hope is that men and women working in the downtown Spokane service industry will be attracted to the affordability and convenience of the apartment building.

Workforce housing helps with employee productivity. Long commutes can translate to high absenteeism and turnover. It also helps with employee recruiting. The Shoshone County Housing Corp., is concerned with housing for service industry workers but also with attracting and keeping professional workers, such as nurses and firefighters.

Vogelheim, who co-founded Jackson Hole’s food bank, said low- and middle-income workers who live year-round in a community become the stalwarts, whereas wealthier folks might live in a community just a few weeks each year.

“The working class has provided the volunteers for our Scouts and fire department,” he said. “Volunteerism is the fabric of the community.”

Jackson Hole has pursued good affordable housing initiatives but still, “the millionaires are getting pushed out by the billionaires,” Vogelheim said. “They want to give you their money, not their time.”

Housing issues can divide communities, too. In boom towns, the housing squeeze often pits developers against city planners and activists. In Teton County, home to Jackson Hole, developers are required to build 15 percent of their homes as affordable housing units. A controversial push is on, however, to increase that requirement to 40 percent.

Booms shelter much good news. Three decades ago, Vogelheim and others would never have predicted that old Jackass would become a nationally known destination resort. Workforce housing is a welcome problem, compared with high unemployment and economic depression. Jumping on the housing challenge now is a wise move into the future.