Montana Cities Need Pro-Housing Reforms

MONTANA CITIES NEED

PRO-HOUSING REFORMS By Kendall Cotton

From rural communities to bustling city centers, there are few places that have been spared from the consequences of Montana’s

housing shortage. While many factors that limit the supply of affordable, attainable housing are beyond the control of policymakers, one significant factor is well within their grasp— strict local zoning regulations.

The Frontier Institute published the Montana Zoning Atlas report, which demonstrates how strict local zoning regulations worsen Montana’s housing shortage by making it difficult to build affordable types of housing in our cities.

Restrictive zoning practices reserve vast portions of Montana cities for larger lots, which are zoned for single-family homes, thus restricting creativity and prohibiting building denser single family housing, and multifamily housing, such as duplexes and triplexes, which are all more affordable by design.

As a result of restrictive zoning regulations like Single-Family Zoning and Minimum Lot Areas, the atlas finds 70% of primary residential areas in Montana’s most in-demand cities either outright prohibit or penalize middle-density housing like townhomes, duplexes, and triplexes.

Among all the cities assessed in the Montana Zoning Atlas report, two-family housing is welcomed without regulatory penalties on just 29% of primary residential land, while three-family housing is welcomed on only 8%.

It’s not surprising to learn that cities at the epicenter of Montana’s housing crisis are the least welcoming to affordable types of housing. More than half the primary residential areas in Bozeman and over three quarters of residential land in Missoula prohibit middle-density housing using a combination of Single-Family Zoning and Minimum Lot Areas.

Whitefish is a close second with 63% of residential areas that prohibit middle-density development. It’s no wonder why workers, renters, and young families are getting priced out of these cities. (The pink areas in these maps indicate where middle-density housing is prohibited.) While there is no silver bullet that will resolve the housing crisis, injecting flexibility into strict zoning practices represents low hanging fruit Montana cities can tackle in short order to help boost the supply of affordable, attainable homes. Our leaders should adopt pro-housing reforms that give landowners more freedom to build new homes where they are needed most. The best part? These reforms can be implemented at no cost to taxpayers.

To explore the Montana Zoning Atlas, go to frontierinstitute.org/atlas

Kendall Cotton is president and CEO of the Frontier Institute, a think tank dedicated to breaking down government barriers so all Montanans can thrive.

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