Housing inflation in the Flathead began to drop precipitously. The pandemic frenzy-buying of the last years swelled the price of starter homes in places like Columbia Falls and Whitefish so far past local wages that working people lost the opportunity to purchase a slice of the Flathead while rents became outrageously expensive.
With federal interest rates skyrocketing 3 percentage points over six months and winter en route, the inventory of houses for sale should rise. Prices may again approach affordability for some locals previously shut out of the market while higher mortgage rates keep others away from opportunity.
The state is discussing how best to increase the supply of starter homes throughout Montana’s urban centers. On their table sits controversial proposals to mandate increased housing density at the city level, planning that’s customarily left to local review.
It’s no surprise that the state Legislature would target local control. They did so last year, blocking Whitefish’s affordable housing ordinances that took years to locally develop in partnership with downtown businesses and the local Chamber of Commerce.
The state’s preemption of local control targeted municipalities, school boards, universities, and health officers throughout Montana. The Legislature demonstrated its contempt by targeting women’s healthcare, disease vaccines, hospitals, worker housing, local transportation funding, and school boards.
The 2021 Legislature spent significantly more time debating how to discriminate against transgender kids than it did mitigating rapidly escalating property taxes for homeowners due to the pandemic-era land grab that consumed Montana.
Montana, for the last several Legislative Sessions, neglected to reduce the rapidly rising effects of biannual property reappraisals that inflated growth-area tax bills. The inflation that homeowners and downtown businesses see on property tax bills are directly related to the continued inaction of distracted politicians in Helena.
Most of the problems facing our towns and families could be eased with the right political will. Yet, because voters routinely prefer the most ardent far-right politicians to represent base needs in Helena, it’s more likely that we’ll lose local control of subdivisions, see more traffic bottlenecks valley wide, and spurn the ever-increasing property taxes from the state’s shifting priorities.
The solution is voting more moderate-minded locals into the State Capitol. One-party control of Helena hasn’t worked out well for our hometowns. High-density housing and transportation planning is best coordinated with local input. Not every subdivision fits and Columbia Falls is not Missoula.
Great places like Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish have invested decades of community time and taxpayer money building places that are livable.
If the electorate sends politicians to Helena to undermine local control, the upcoming public hearings for high-density subdivisions within single-family residential neighborhoods will be short, even nonexistent.
Holding politicians to account begins at the ballot box. Unless moderate-minded voters choose politicians for the Legislature who can partner with local towns, the outcome from the New Year’s four-month session will be huge losses to local control. Politicians should be offering solutions that partner with local towns, not more unfunded mandates from state government.
Anyone who walks, bikes, or drives in the valley can attest that federal transportation funding and local planning are critical components to growth. Our economy and jobs remain interwoven into our local towns. Our municipalities remain key economic partners to Montana’s growth and success.
In all my past years working in Helena with fellow lawmakers from throughout our big state, the solutions that worked and advanced all Montanans were consistently found in the middle of politics, a place where party affiliation had little to do with how we prosper.
Some prefer yelling about issues that matter little to Montana but real solutions to the everyday challenges facing families and society make more sense when our state and nation work hand-in-hand with local government.