{"id":20546,"date":"2017-12-08T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=20546"},"modified":"2017-12-08T09:00:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T16:00:08","slug":"missoula-struggles-to-solve-affordable-housing-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/12\/missoula-struggles-to-solve-affordable-housing-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"Missoula struggles to solve affordable housing puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"High\"<\/a>

Martin Kidston\/Missoula Current<\/p>

In 2016, the median price of a home in Missoula increased 6.8 percent to a record high $255,000. More recent figures now place the average price as high as $270,000.<\/p><\/div>\n

Missoula\u2019s low median income and tight residential market have left many households paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to a new Community Health Assessment released this week.<\/p>\n

The study also found that home ownership in Missoula County has dropped 4 percent over the past 17 years. What\u2019s more, the city\u2019s aging population will need more living options, including homes that are easily navigated.<\/p>\n

The issues are many and complex and have fallen under the purview of the city\u2019s Office of Housing and Economic Development. Headed by Eran Pehan, the office and its newly minted steering committee expect to release policy recommendations next spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve recently established our housing steering committee to work on creating a housing policy and take that deep look into our local demographics, our consumer preferences and desirability,\u201d Pehan said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to meet in that forum and look at housing needs at all levels, and those targeted housing needs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016, the median price of a house in Missoula increased 6.8 percent to a record high $255,000. More recent figures now place the average price as high as $270,000.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s housing affordability, or lack of it, has been central to several recent economic presentations, with economists warning that the cost of housing compared to the average income could serve as an anchor on the local economy.<\/p>\n

Pehan said the new housing task force is exploring ways to address affordability, though all housing types at all price points will play into the equation.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cOur goal is to make sure all Missoulians have access to housing that\u2019s affordable to them and meets their needs,\u201d she said. \u201cFor some, that may be subsidized housing, while for others it may be first-time ownership opportunities or step-down housing that allows them to move out of their big ranch home into something that\u2019s more manageable as they age.\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of Missoula residents over the age of 60 is on the rise and isn\u2019t likely to slow down. The number of residents over 60 is projected to increase from 25,000 in 2015 to nearly 40,000 by 2040.<\/p>\n

The Community Health Survey addresses that projection, calling for an increase in housing that meets \u201cvisitability standards,\u201d or homes that enable the mobility impaired to navigate the structure.<\/p>\n

As it stands, there is no way to measure the number of houses that meet visitability standards in Missoula County, but the survey found interest in developing data as a housing measure.<\/p>\n

Pehan said it\u2019s something the new office of housing and its task force have kept in mind as they look at all housing needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to look at all the demographics and ages so everyone in those groups has access to housing that\u2019s affordable to them and meets their particular needs,\u201d she said. \u201cWe hope to have recommendations to the community in the spring.”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0Missoula Current<\/a>, an independent online newspaper, of which\u00a0Martin Kidston is the founding editor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Missoula\u2019s low median income and tight residential market have left many households paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to a new Community Health Assessment released this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":20547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6533,6535,6534],"class_list":["post-20546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-community-health-assessment","tag-eran-pehan","tag-missoula-housing","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20548,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546\/revisions\/20548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}