BOZEMAN —Later today, City of Bozeman Economic Development and Housing staff will provide an update to the Bozeman City Commission on their progress in implementing the Bozeman Community Housing Action adopted in 2019. Since this time, 1,774 new units of housing have entered the pipeline, including 592 income-restricted units and 11 affordable developments.

“Housing is top of mind for many in our community and understandably so given the rising costs,” David Fine, Economic Development Manager at the City of Bozeman, explained. “While more work is to be done in this space to increase affordability across the city, much has been done as well, and we continue to use every tool available to increase our number of affordable units.”

The Community Housing Action Plan uses a partnership framework to advance strategies addressing housing affordability. Within the plan, staff have prioritized the strategies where the City can create more units of long-term affordable housing.
 
In 2021, the Montana Legislature prohibited cities from requiring affordable units in new developments, a policy known as inclusionary zoning. As a result, the City innovated with financial and regulatory tools to incentivize affordability. This has resulted in a significant pipeline of projects and community housing units.

Staff will review substantial resources that Bozeman City Commission has dedicated to affordable housing, including increasing the Community Housing budget from $1.2 million in fiscal year 2023 to $3.5 million in fiscal year 2024, and granting $1 million to the Gallatin Housing Impact Fund at Neighborworks Montana, which leverages 9 private dollars for every 1 public dollar granted to the fund for community housing developments. Commission also approved $11.3 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance to support the public infrastructure necessary for workforce housing projects.

Other changes include the city adopting new development codes to encourage affordability through density and infill, which makes it easier to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). Additionally, the city created density bonuses to incentivize affordable units in projects, and a new planned development zone (PDZ) process that encourages providing affordable housing in exchange for modifying development standards.

For more information on community housing, contact David Fine at dfine@bozeman.net.