Man-Camps: To Grow Or Not Grow

This link to the Grand Forks Herald sent to me by a reader.

“We thought that they were a solution when it started,” said Williams County Commissioner Dan Kalil. “But then it got to be such a land rush that it just got way out of hand.”

Williams County, with Williston as the county seat, has approved 9,600 temporary housing beds. But now it has implemented a moratorium on new temporary housing facilities.

But many say the crew camps — particularly the larger camps that are professionally run – are a necessary solution to the housing shortage, which in turn is contributing to a workforce shortage.

Jeff Zarling, president of Williston business development firm DAWA Solutions Group, said he thinks the man camp moratorium is having negative consequences.

Companies are buying single-family houses and crowding several workers in them, or putting up RVs in a disorganized fashion, Zarling said.

I've talked about this before. When folks are waiting for "their" well to come in, they can't advocate for man-camps strong enough to get the necessary workers in state; once "their" wells have come, it's time to slow things down, I guess.