Phil Castle, The Business Times

While national and state policies affect businesses, so do local policies.

“Local communities have a lot of say in their ability to stay competitive,” said Chris Brown, vice president of policy and research with the Common Sense Institute.

Speaking at a Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce quarterly membership meeting, Brown discussed a range of policies. He also discussed the results of reports the Common Sense Institute prepared looking at crime, homeless and housing affordability in Mesa County and Grand Junction.

Brown described the Common Sense Institute as a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank that strives to quantify and provide information about the effects of major public policies. The institute operates in Colorado and Arizona and is looking to expand into other states, he said.

On a national scale, inflation has made life more expensive, Brown said. By one estimate, households pay on average $1,000 more a month now than in 2019 as a result of inflation and higher prices.

The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to curb inflation. But that policy could have other implications, Brown said.

The last time interest rates were similarly increased, the unemployment in Colorado jumped to 5.9 percent, he said. In May, the latest month for which estimates are available, the statewide seasonally adjusted jobless rate held steady at 2.8 percent.

A number of state policies exert effects on businesses and competitiveness, Brown said, including those involving health care, income taxes, litigation and energy and the environment.

In Mesa County and Grand Junction, a Common Sense Institute report found the crime rate remained flat locally even as it trended upward statewide. In Grand Junction, arrests have dropped 14.8 percent since 2010, Brown said. The rate of auto thefts remains far lower in Mesa County than in Denver, he said.

According to the latest results of a one-night, once-a-year count, the number of people counted among the unsheltered was up 60 percent in Grand Junction, Brown said.

Meanwhile, rising interest rates and prices have pushed down housing affordability, he said. So has an imbalance between supply and demand.

According to one estimate, there’s a deficit of 1,900 housing units to 2,400 units in Grand Junction.

But the population is expected to continue to grow as a larger portion of growth in Colorado occurs in Grand Junction, Brown said.