Livingston Growth policy update will provide an opportunity to address local housing issues
By Johnathan Hettinger
Livingston’s current 2017 growth policy doesn’t say much about housing. In fact, it’s just 27 words: “Given the relatively stable population the overall housing stock seems to be adequate. Some 276 housing units, or 8.2% of the housing stock, were vacant in 2000.”
However, discussions with community members, business leaders, nonprofits and service providers tell a different story: One where housing prices are going up, and there are fewer cheap places to live.
That’s one of the reasons why the Park County Environmental Council lobbied the city of Livingston to update its growth policy. Livingston is on the precipice of unprecedented growth, and the community needs to be prepared. If official city documents don’t align with the community’s vision for itself, then we will not be able to help create the growth we want.
“This is an environmental issue, a local economy issue, a housing issue, a fairness issue,” said Michelle Uberuaga, executive director of the Park County Environmental Council. “We need people to tell the city what they want Livingston to become.”
And on January 28, Livingston residents will get an opportunity to do just that. The city of Livingston is hosting its first public meeting for the growth policy update at 6 p.m. in the Community Room of the City-County Complex. Please RSVP with Faith Kinnick.
Housing crunch
Increasingly, rising housing costs are pushing people off the bottom rung of the housing ladder in a way that has not been seen in the past, according to Brian Guyer, community development manager at Human Resources Development Council, a community action agency that works on housing affordability issues throughout Montana.
Between 2015 and 2018, the median sale price of a single-family home in Park County increased from $205,000 to $297,000, according to We Will Park County, an initiative by the Park County Community Foundation that focuses on using both quantitative and qualitative data to help inform the community.
Rapid redevelopment in areas that used to be appropriate for affordable housing has displaced chunks of naturally occurring affordable housing, like mobile homes. HRDC is also seeing fewer and fewer rental units that are considered “affordable” or 30 percent of area median income. About 31 percent of people in Park County spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to We Will Park County.
Vulnerable populations, like the elderly are particularly susceptible to the housing crunch. Becky Bird, executive director of the Park County Senior Center, said she is frequently helping seniors try to find housing, and the center frequently has a long waiting list for its 25 apartments for low- to moderate-income seniors.
Heidi Barrett, executive director of ASPEN, a nonprofit organization in Livingston that helps survivors of domestic and sexual violence, said staff frequently has trouble finding places for their clients to live.
The living wage one would need to earn in Livingston is $16.56 an hour, much higher than many starting salaries, Barrett said.
“I don’t have a single conversation that doesn’t come back to housing in some way,” said Michael McCormick, executive director of the Livingston Food Resource Center, which provides a large swath of services to people in poverty in Park County.
Through We Will Park County and other initiatives, the Park County Community Foundation recognizes that housing is already a pressing issue, and it will become an even bigger concern as the community continues to grow, said Program Director Barbara Oldershaw.
"There is a shared understanding that housing is an issue, but we’re eager to determine the particular flavor of the housing crunch that we're feeling here in Park County," Oldershaw said. "We think that having a clearer understanding of the specific nature of the problem will guide us in coming up with a solution that is more tailored to whatever the issues are here."
Through this work, the Community Foundation is working to help Park County shape solutions that work for all members of the community. For example, Big Sky has helped address many of its housing issues through workplace housing, not just for seasonal workers but also more permanent, higher level employees who want to live in the community but have aged out of temporary housing solutions.
Solutions
Livingston is not alone among Mountain West towns facing housing issues, and the city should learn from the successes of these other communities, said Guyer.
“The important thing is to keep affordability in the discussions in whatever you’re considering,” said Guyer. “The growth policy should consider the entire spectrum of housing, from homelessness to home ownership.”
Livingston can use a suite of approaches to help keep the cost of building and rehabbing affordable homes low, Guyer said. Through the Growth Policy Update process, Burton Planning Services and the Planning Board should identify potential tools to assist the community in keeping housing affordable.
This suite can include:
Planning documents - "The city should take a more active role in developing plans that address specific community needs: Neighborhood Plans, Housing Plans, Parks Plans, Economic Development, etc."
Progressive planning tools- The city should investigate a range of tools to address housing affordability. Tax incentives, regulatory relaxations, deed restrictions, and programs that assist buyers are a few of the options.
Code enforcement - The city should take an active role in enforcing health and safety codes to help ensure vulnerable residents have a safe and comfortable place to live. We need to ask: What kind of conditions are people living in?
Rewrite zoning code - Following adoption of the new growth policy, the city needs to update its zoning regulations to match newly adopted policies. New policies that can help housing affordability include: residential infill, increasing density in our older neighborhoods; clustered development, development that reduces overall infrastructure; allowing housing, like apartments and/or condos, above downtown commercial buildings; housing diversity, like duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes; and other policies that increase the amount of housing without contributing to costly residential sprawl.
As a reminder, the public meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m. at the City-County Complex.
Can’t attend the meeting? That’s OK, there are other ways you can provide feedback.
Please fill out the city’s growth policy survey by Feb. 1.
And feel free to submit comments any time.