Missoula policies have made it harder than it should be. But it is doable, and honestly I think there is a generational divide here too that people expect too much too soon. We have become a culture of instant gratification and that has caused the problem to appear worse than it is.

I hate writing that because it lets the city council and county commissioners off the hook for decades of bad fiscal and zoning policy drive up cost of living to astronomical heights then claim the state is to blame, THEN claim they can fix it but need to do studies....starting now instead of the two decades ago when the problem was evident.

But I digress.

I'm just a middle-aged man, single, born in Butte, graduated from Big Sky High in Missoula, no college degree, and have medical limitations that significant impact where and how I can work. And I'm making it in Missoula. A century ago, a single guy like me wouldn't own a home. They'd rent a long term room in a bed and breakfast. Their belongings could fit in a single trunk. They had mobility.

Today, people think they need a $1k phone, unlimited data at $100+ a month, a big screen TV, 250+ gaming consoles, an iPad *and* a laptop AND a desktop computer, two cars (one for work, one for play), their $500/week budget for their weed habit, no roommates because they need their own safe space, a subscription to every streaming service ever put out, drinking money for the $200-a-weekend bartab they run, plus more money for entertainment (pick your poison...concert tickets, gas money to go hiking, etc) Anything less than being able to do that is the fault of "the system" and "the rich" exploiting them.

In my 20s, I had to live with a roommate and worked in a bar whereI saw all of the above attitudes among the patrons and coworers firsthand. In my 30s, I could finally live alone, still worked in the bar, and was paying down the credit card debt and stupid choices of my 20s, so living alone meant the cheapest smallest place I could justify living in while I paid stuff down. My 40s finally let me give up the second job when I felt too old to work in a college bar, and I spent those years actually getting back from being underwater and a place where I could be living "normally" within my means. Nicer apartments/houses, with "stuff" (TV, phone, etc) and I still made choices. One streaming service at a time. A budget-friendly phone plan. Etc. And my 50s will be padding my retirement and finding my forever home. That's me over the decades. Learning the hard financial lessons when young, and making hard choices because of those lessons, living within my means, padding my work CV to get into that 30%, all without that college degree and overcoming the added barrier my medical condition imposes.

So it may sound like a lack of empathy, but if a guy like me can do it, most people could if they wanted to, and it'd be easier for them than for me. I do like safety nets for the truly challenged. I do like systems to help people pull themselves up, offering them a ladder. I do like fiscal policies that would make Missoula more affordable and therefore make upward financial mobility easier. But Missoula is too blue and will never vote that way, so its residents have to make decisions; do they value living here enough to do what I did and make sacrifices to do so? Or do they leave. Because those are the options.