Park County looks to accessory dwelling as seniors face housing challenges

On a recent evening in Livingston, around 20 people gathered in a conference room in the public library. They’re here for a workshop educating folks on accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.

Those are smaller, standalone living spaces on the same lots as single-family homes. Think a basement studio or an in-law suite. The workshop, mostly attended by people over 50, was led by Katherine Daly, manager of the Park County Housing Coalition.

Forty-six percent of Park County’s population is at least 50 years old. That’s older than the statewide average. The average home sale price in the county is over $540,000, according to Rocket Homes. 

Daly says ADUs are a potential tool to help older locals navigate Montana’s increasingly unaffordable housing market.

"They’re just adding a few homes to areas where they're most needed, they're already lovely neighborhoods. And they support, sort of, positive outcomes for both the property owner and the person who is eventually living in that accessory dwelling unit," Daly says.

Montana was recently labeled by the National Association of Realtors as the least affordable housing market in the country.

A combination of factors has left older folks in the lurch, says Tim Summers, Montana State Director for AARP.

"Montanans 50-plus are getting hit with the double whammy. And many of the older homeowners find themselves that they are house rich and cash poor. And many of them are having – beyond their fixed incomes, paying for those property taxes. And then the other big issue that is hitting them is the supply. Right? If they want to downsize, they are facing very, very high costs, and chances are they're not going to be able to get the same level of housing that they had before."

That creates a situation where older folks can get locked into a house that’s not working for them – either because it’s too big or too expensive — and locked out of smaller, more accessible options.

Samar Jha is the national government affairs director for AARP. Jha says, "One of the biggest things for older adults, from our perspective, is they are looking for housing options. And when I say housing options, it basically means different sizes of homes. And one of the big things that, from our perspective, that we have been advocating for is ADUs."

Livingston, like the rest of Montana, is dominated by single-family housing. And a chunk of housing stock – more than six percent in Park County – is taken up by short-term rentals like AirBnb and VRBO. That’s especially pronounced in tourism-centered areas. Park County is a gateway community to Yellowstone National Park and has the second-highest concentration of short term rentals in the state.

That limits the smaller, cheaper rental options available to seniors and people with low incomes. That problem is expected to get worse in the next few years, according to an assessment conducted by Park County in 2021.

Park County officials hope that ADUs can help more seniors afford to stay there – either by moving into an ADU themselves or renting one out to help cover costs of their current homes.

Park County started its efforts to build awareness about ADUs in 2022, assisted by grant funding from AARP. More Montana communities are likely to see them popping up in coming years.

The 2023 state Legislature passed a slew of housing reform bills aimed at increasing supply. One of those is a requirement that local governments allow construction of ADUs on single family lots.

That bill had been held up by a court injunction, but the Montana Supreme Court in September intervened and ordered the law into effect.