Copper boom causes housing shortage in Arizona
Imagine leaving home and traveling hundreds of miles to a new job, only to discover there is barely any place to stay. The motels have “no vacancy” signs. Rental homes and apartments are taken. Even RV spaces are full.
That’s pretty much the story in eastern Arizona as thousands of miners and contractors migrate to join a copper boom that has transformed sleepy towns into industrial juggernauts.
One copper company, Phelps Dodge, has even been forced to buy up hundreds of so-called Katrina trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house workers for its mines in Morenci and Safford.
About four years ago, copper was marginally profitable at 70 cents per pound on the world market. Some Arizona mines closed. But this year, with burgeoning markets in China and India and elsewhere, copper prices went to more than $3.65 per pound.
Old mines are opening and new ones are planned. As companies scramble for manpower, a housing crunch that began last year is verging on critical.
Nowhere is the lack of empty beds more glaring than in Clifton. Two years ago, the population was 2,495; the actual number today is unknown.
“It’s very difficult to find housing for anyone, even our own employees,” said Kay Gale, Greenlee County manager.
Builders knew a housing shortage was imminent because of the buzz over copper prices. “(But) nobody wanted to pull the trigger on development until they saw we were absolutely, positively going to build the mine,” said Kimball Hansen of Phelps Dodge. “They’re all kind of in a catch-up mode now.”
Some miners take the spartan accommodations in stride.
Dan Layman, 48, a mechanic, moved from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in February to work at the Morenci mine. Layman lives in York, about 20 miles away, in an RV park full of miners. Rent is free, and Layman, working 12-hour days, said he doesn’t much worry about austere conditions.
“Phelps Dodge has treated me very well,” he said. “My only complaint is they don’t have a good restaurant around here.”
Some other miners are sick of housing hassles. Tim Boardman, 29, of Phoenix, said he has spent two months in FEMA trailers lined up at the end of a dirt road.
Boardman, a who cuts roadways along steep mine slopes, shares a dwelling of less than 300 square feet with his wife, Stacie, their three kids and three dogs. There is no shade, just gravel. Trucks deliver potable water. Septic tanks are pumped every few days. Referring to the stench, Stacie said, “It’s like living in a giant Porta-Potti.”