FAQs

In short, housing is considered affordable when a household spends 30% or less of their gross income on housing costs. Housing professionals often look at data such as area median income and compare that to rental and purchase costs to determine how affordable housing is to subsets of a population. Affordable housing can be created through markets with no tools to restrict rental or purchase price or through things like deed restrictions that can be used to restrict sale or rental prices. The different types of affordable housing are described in more detail on page 2 of the 2024 Housing Strategy.

Great question! This is one of the things we are hoping to answer together with residents. The Housing Needs Assessment and associated outreach revealed that the lack of affordable housing affects people of all ages and across a variety of professions and family structures in Gallatin County. The Housing Strategy and Housing special topic in the Future Land Use Map chapter of the Growth Policy emphasize the need for housing that is affordable, high quality, and is appropriate for a broad array of ages and family structures.  This project seeks to answer exactly what that looks like in Gallatin County within the focus areas for this project. You are invited and encouraged to help answer that question with us.  

The Future Land Use Map categorizes portions of Four Corners as "urban growth area" - meaning it is appropriate for housing development because it has centralized water and sewer services, is outside of core wildlife habitat, is relatively flat, has low fire risk, and is proximal to services. Various types of housing are permitted in the Four Corners Zoning District currently; however, the zoning district was created at a time when housing affordability was not as big of an issue as it is today. Recent, rapid increases in unaffordability are well documented in the Housing Strategy. Thus, this project looks at what barriers to affordable housing can be removed in existing zoning and how the zoning code can help support affordable housing projects for those that are interested in developing them. The Gallatin Gateway community core is identified as a "rural growth area" in the Future Land Use Map because it has some services (school, some restaurants, community center, etc.), is outside core wildlife habitat, has low fire risk, has centralized sewer services, and is relatively flat. However, services in Gallatin Gateway are more limited than Four Corners, which is why it is identified as appropriate for rural growth rather than urban. The Gateway core is not currently zoned, so for Gateway, this project looks at what types of densities and housing types might be appropriate in a rural area, and how those units might be made more affordable for local residents.

Zoning plays an important role in development because it sets the standards for how many units can be built in a given area (density), how tall those units can be, and how close they can be to adjacent properties, public roads, etc. In some cases, zoning has been used to restrict certain types of development that might be more affordable to residents, which has contributed to increased housing costs and displacement. We will be looking at what barriers to affordable housing exist in our zoning code as part of this project. Zoning can also incentive affordable housing by offering developers relaxations from certain zoning standards (allowing for the construction of more units/design flexibility) in exchange for building affordable units.  

No, Bozeman is a municipality and has its own Planning Department and set of zoning regulations. The County Planning Department has jurisdiction in unincorporated areas of the County, so outside of Bozeman, Belgrade, Three Forks, Manhattan and West Yellowstone.

Zoning is a set of land use and development regulations that apply in a defined geographic area. The area subject to the zoning regulation is called a zoning district and the zoning regulation itself contains the land use and development standards that apply to that district. The goal of zoning is to protect public health and safety and promote orderly development in line with the Community's vision articulated in adopted plans and policies, like the Growth Policy.  

Reviewing existing plans, policies, and previous outreach efforts is an important part of this project. The project team has spent considerable time reviewing these documents and will use them to inform the model code. While these previous planning efforts are helpful for developing zoning code, they did not ask the specific questions that this project is asking, which are: "What does a zoning code that supports and encourages affordable housing look like?" and "What barriers to affordable housing or mixed income developments exist in our zoning codes?" This is why a combination of plan review and outreach are necessary for the project to be successful. The established plans and policies that are being used to develop the model code can be found here.

So glad you asked! We recently wrapped up our in-person engagement events and online survey (results coming soon!) but there is still plenty of time to participate. You can submit public comment on the project at any time by emailing envision@gallatin.mt.gov. We'll also be releasing a draft of the model code this fall for public comment, keep an eye out for that and/or sign up for email updates by sending a message to envision@gallain.mt.gov. if you have trouble with technology, give us a call at 406-682-3130 and we can discuss alternative ways to participate.

We think this question might be referring to the City of Bozeman's vacancy rate, which is outside of the County's Planning jurisdiction. While vacancy rates are certainly an important and interesting metric to get a sense of the current state of housing stock, they are subject to many economic and social forces that can change from year to year or even week to week. On the other hand, zoning is a regulation that guides what kinds of development can take place in a certain area, providing predictability for residents and property owners over the long term. Increases in rental affordability in Bozeman at the moment do not necessarily indicate lasting results, or that it is not important to think about affordability at the County scale over the long term through zoning.