Before the ending stage, as noted above, many areas must be addressed first. To begin, a definition of the problem must be provided. The high cost of housing in Boulder is defined as a problem for many residents, causing stress where to live and how to pay for their living. Many people are forced to live outside of Boulder, which produces disadvantages for individuals who have obligations in Boulder. Statistics from Dan Corson's and Lisa Morzol's publication in The Boulder County Business Report in 1999 show that more than fifty percent of CU's faculty and staff live outside of Boulder, and that around 3,800 students commute daily (www.bcbr.com/mar99/colhous2.htm). Commuting causes another problem, noted by the Boulder County Civic Forum, that the "lack of diversity of housing prices in Boulder County communities has environmental consequences as well" (www.bococivicforum.org/affordibility.html). When people are forced to commute with their cars, they pollute the air and hurt both the environment and out health. Although the numbers above are just concerned with the population of the school, there are many others that also have to commute to Boulder to attend their everyday jobs.
Businesses in Boulder struggle with employees that cannot afford to live near their workplaces, and they also seem to have a hard time finding employees to fill the lower paying jobs. According to the Boulder County Civic Forum publication from 2001, the city of Boulder conducted a survey involving 198 local employers, and they found that affordable living was a problem for many. The survey concluded that 22% considered housing as a "major problem," 75% said that it was a "minor problem," (which is still a problem) and there were only 3% who said that it was not a problem" (www.bococivicforum.org/affordability.html). From this we can infer that the people within the 3%, who claimed that for them housing is not a problem, most likely have a higher income than others do, and therefore are not concerned with the issue.
