Workforce Housing still months away

By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

Seven months after Bozeman’s contentious Workforce Housing Ordinance went into effect, the affordable homes it sought to create are eight to 12 months from completion, said Steven Herron, the newly hired administrator of the Workforce Housing Program.

The lag between the ordinance passing and homes actually built is not far from the best-case scenario imagined by city planners when discussions of the workforce housing ordinance began last year, said Chris Saunders, assistant director of planning and community development for Bozeman.

“The expectation was we would not be seeing homes being constructed until the following year,” Saunders said. “That would be a very vigorous pursuit of development.”

Herron was hired in mid-February to lead the workforce housing program, which requires developers of some subdivisions to price a portion of their homes or condominiums under $200,000 and trains Bozeman residents for homeownership. While those houses await construction, Herron is working to educate families who make under $70,000 a year and direct them toward other ownership programs now in place n many of which offer low-interest loans and down payment assistance.

Today, Herron said, two developments are slated to build affordable housing with tentative completion dates between late fall and early 2009:

* Norton East, a 125-unit development, eight of which will be workforce housing units;

* and Laurel Glen, a development of 103-single household residential lots and eight multi-household lots, with 12 workforce housing units planned.

A third development being planned for Story Mill Road also will contribute homes to the program, Saunders said. A total of 34 lower-priced homes are expected to come out of that development over several phases, he said.

None of the developments has received final plat approval.

The Bozeman City Commission adopted the ordinance in hopes of giving working class families n those who make under $70,000 a year n wider options in owning a home in Bozeman. Developments using more than 5 acres of land for housing fall under the ordinance.

The houses are required to blend into the surrounding neighborhood with cheaper interiors than the higher-priced houses, Herron said.

Critics of the Workforce Housing Ordinance said it would interfere with the Bozeman housing market and drive up the price of houses not covered by the ordinance.

Saunders said building requests are down so far this year, but there are a multitude of factors that could be contributing, including a feeling among builders that the housing market in Bozeman is saturated.

“We have not seen anyone come in and say, ‘Because of the workforce housing we are not going to develop,’” he said.

Herron also is working with developers to convince them there is a demand to be met with homes priced under $200,000, even without a push from the city commission.

“Bozeman is a potential gold mine for homes under $200,000,” he said. “There is a huge shortage of these homes and lots of eager, well-qualified people who want them. What choices does a developer have? Build more expensive homes that might sit vacant alongside already overbuilt inventories, or venture into a new untapped but potentially lucrative market?”

Reader Comments