The National Park Foundation (NPF) and National Park Service (NPS) today announced a $40 million gift to expand and improve NPS employee housing at Yellowstone, America’s first national park. The new investment made possible by donors who wish to remain anonymous will fund more than 70 new modular units to address the critical shortage of employee housing at the park.
Affordable housing for employees in and near national parks is increasingly scarce and expensive, reflecting a trend impacting communities across the country, forcing park employees to commute long distances between work and home and making it difficult for NPS to recruit and retain employees.
National parks across the country are grappling with the challenge of providing quality housing for the people who care for parks.
National park employees include rangers, resource specialists, maintenance staff, and many other employees that make parks amazing places to visit, all dedicated to protecting parks and providing world class visitor experience to an increasing number of park visitors – 325.5 million last year alone. The care of America’s national parks and the quality of visitor experience depend on recruiting and retaining talented and devoted NPS employees and on the availability of affordable housing.
The need is not isolated to Yellowstone.
NPS employs 20,000 people who support operations at 429 parks located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories. In all, there are more than 5,600 housing facilities in over 200 parks, ranging from 100-year-old cabins to modern dormitories and duplexes in urban and rural communities as well as remote areas. More than 15,600 people rely on these homes, including 2,800 permanent and 5,000 seasonal employees, as well as volunteers, and employees of concessionaires and park partner organizations.
The current shortage of employee housing is the result of a combination of factors, including rising property values in communities surrounding parks and increasing demand for vacation rentals near national parks. The NPS invests tens of millions annually to address housing operation, maintenance, repair, and construction, and to offset leased housing in nearby communities when in-park housing is not available. The $40 million donation is significant because it will allow Yellowstone National Park to construct entirely new housing.
A National Park Foundation assessment of NPS housing needs at three national parks, Acadia, Yosemite, and Grand Teton, found that in total, those parks require more than $115 million in funding to add over 200 new employee housing units.
Private philanthropy is well-positioned to accelerate the pace of change across the National Park System. The $40 million gift will bridge the funding gap at Yellowstone National Park to meet the current need for employees housing in the park and provide a funding model to accelerate construction of employee housing at national parks across the country.
Work on the new units in Yellowstone National Park is set to begin later this year.
Jeff
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