Montana policymakers are working to tackle the state’s affordable housing crisis. Researchers say they have a way to measure their progress.
Wages in Montana have failed to keep up with skyrocketing housing prices in recent years. Prices remain high as demand outpaces the number of homes for sale.
Policymakers, advocates and industry experts don’t always agree on how to solve the problem.
Researchers with the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis say the first step in unifying those groups is good data.
Libby Starling is a community development advisor with the federal reserve.
“It becomes important that everyone is looking at a common set of data so that the overall narrative is driving action in coordination, versus people having dialogue, ‘well, my data says this and her data says something else,’” said Starling.
Starling presented a newly launched dashboard to state lawmakers on Thursday. It’s tracking nine indicators of housing affordability, including homeownership rates and new unit construction.
Starling says the dashboard can identify emerging trends and help measure how well existing housing policy is working.
The data comes from several sources, and some are more readily available than others. For example, U.S. Census data is updated annually, so some measures on the dashboard won’t have fresh data until December when it's released.
Starling says the researchers are looking for feedback on the new tool.
Rep. Jim Hamilton, a Democrat from Bozeman, asked that the dashboard include more renting data in the future.
“In my community, probably half to two-thirds are renters with no hope of homeownership,” said Hamilton.
Starling said they’d work on finding reliable data.
The state’s Housing Task Force is expected to release new proposals to address the issue in August. The ideas will then be up for consideration next legislative session.
