What it's like to live in frack land

Eastern Ohio is beginning to experience a shortage of affordable and available housing for the poor because another group has tapped much of the existing stock: drilling company workers....

One report looked at Carroll County, southeast of Canton, where the Utica shale drilling boom has led “to a strain on the existing housing infrastructure.” Researchers said the problem is likely to expand in the next year to Stark, Tuscarawas and Columbiana counties.

Most shale workers live temporarily in eastern Ohio and have been able to find housing in single-home rental units, local hotels, campgrounds or other options, the researchers said.

There is strong resistance to developing barracks-style “man-camps” as a housing option. Communities are reluctant to invest millions of dollars on new housing, water and sewers for a temporary population, the authors said.

The growing shortage of rental homes in eastern Ohio has left moderate- and low-income residents with limited housing options, especially after landlords have hiked rents, the groups said.