The Blog at MSPC

Montana policymakers have pursued one of the nation's most ambitious state-level housing reform agendas. Even with those efforts, it will take time to mitigate the growing tension between economic growth and housing attainability.

Authored by Senior Policy Analyst Madilynne Clark, the study finds that decades of underbuilding, restrictive regulations, permitting delays, and limited housing choices have contributed to a housing shortage estimated at 3 to 4 million homes nationwide. In Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming alone, the shortage exceeds 335,000 homes.

The two-stairway requirement acts as a binding constraint on supply, especially for small and mid-size apartment buildings. It doesn’t just make construction more expensive—it makes many projects impossible to build at all. Entire categories of housing that would otherwise be viable simply never get proposed.

In Teton County’s twisted logic, forcing residents to pay higher building fees to support “workforce housing” is the solution to its chronic housing shortage for lower-income residents. The fees apply even if those building include plans for rental units that would ease the problem.

Idaho’s housing policy is getting a much-needed renovation, and some of the first demo days occurred during the session. With the approval of Senate Bill 1164 requiring a 10-day notice of completed applications, the Idaho legislature made it clear it is focused on removing unwanted obstacles to increasing the housing supply. The legislature is also working on a building plan to increase the housing supply with the Senate’s Concurrent Resolution 103, which formed a committee f