Star-Tribune Editorial Board

Experience is a great teacher, but in Wyoming it may have taught its lesson too well.

Our history of boom and bust has taught Wyoming residents to distrust prosperity. Remembering the 1980s, many Wyoming residents are convinced that today's strong economy can't last more than a few years. And they're dubious about any project that aims to change our future.

Certainly, ignoring history would be foolish. But, as anyone knows who has read an investment brochure, history doesn't guarantee future performance. Even if the energy economy can't boom forever, wise choices can improve Wyoming's future.

One of those choices has to do with housing. In the past few days, some credible voices have called on Wyoming's leadership to help ease the shortage of "work force housing" - homes that ordinary working people can afford. The Legislature should listen.

One voice came from George Axlund, the recently retired director of the Wyoming Community Development Authority. He suggested that housing infrastructure (basically, streets, sewers and water lines) is an investment with no down side. Even if a dramatic change in the housing market suddenly eases the current shortage, Axlund contends Wyoming's communities won't stop growing.

The other voice is Wyoming Business Council, the state's chief economic development agency. Assigned by the Legislature to administer this year's $1 million "pilot project" for infrastructure loans, the council says it needs 10 times that much in order to make a dent in the problem.

(We're ethically bound to note that this newspaper's publisher, Nathan Bekke, is a member of the Business Council. So it's probably no surprise that we agree with the council on this issue.)

The shortage of housing for Wyoming workers is causing lots of problems. The price of rent has risen dramatically. Most of energy industry's new jobs are being filled by people who live out of state. Businesses have trouble hiring, because workers can't find places to live.

Some people say building houses isn't the Legislature's job. They say the free market will even out supply and demand over time.

We might agree with that viewpoint, if the problem were causing merely short-term inconvenience. But today's housing shortage is a barrier to Wyoming's long-term economic health.

Remember what we said about making choices to improve Wyoming's future? The most important choice we can make is to diversify our economy. That means attracting or building industries that don't depend wholly on selling energy. Such industries can help sustain a prosperous Wyoming if the energy sector weakens - or when, decades from how, our energy resources finally run out.

To attract such industries, we need skilled, available workers now. To attract such workers, we need housing.

If you read this column regularly, you've seen us make this same point repeatedly. We don't mind saying it again, because it's important.

Though boom and bust have shaped our history, they don't have to control our destiny. Wyoming's current prosperity is an opportunity to build a better future.

But opportunities don't last forever. We need to act now.