A Place to Call Home: Implementation Update February 2021

On February 17, 2021, the Community Development Division provided an informational update to City Council’s Administration and Finance Committee. Many challenges within the Missoula housing market and future actionable steps to address these problems were presented:

Challenges

Renters face a vacancy rate that has remained below a stable threshold of 5% for the last 5 years.
48% of renters in Missoula spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
The median home sale price continues to outpace wage increases year after year, placing home ownership out of reach for many Missoulians.
Household mobility slowed significantly during the pandemic and the rental vacancy rate neared zero at times over the past year. This has placed significant pressure on local home prices to increase.

Our Response

These challenges occur across the State of Montana. It is important to have conversations at the State level about how to manage the housing market statewide. This includes conversations about:

State and local revenue sources to support affordable housing
State level regulations that slow down housing development
Montana's ability leverage federal dollars and distribute funds into communities

Implementation

There are over two dozen specific policy recommendations to improve housing affordability in Missoula. These policies work to:

Track data and analyze progress to better understand the housing market
Leverage existing funding resources to support housing
Reduce barriers and promote access to affordable homes
Partner to create and preserve affordable homes

What’s Next?

In the coming months, the Community Development Division will continue to implement new elements of the housing policy recommendations including:

Introduction of the funding cycle for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund
Development of the Affordable Housing Incentives Program
Reconvene the Public/Private Housing Finance Work Group
Continue to track and report

Click here to view the slides from the presentation or watch the presentation here!