Single-Parent Households Make Up Almost Half of Whitefish Workforce Rental Assistance Program Approvals
When the pilot program launched in 2024, the initial plan was to review applications in quarterly cycles, but earlier this month it was announced that applications would now be accepted on a rolling basis
By Mike Kordenbrock
It’s been about six months since the Whitefish Workforce Rental Assistance Program disbursed its first round of rental assistance payments in April 2024, and so far single-parent households make up almost half of those approved to participate in the program.
Modeled after a similar program in Winter Park, Colorado, the Whitefish Workforce Rental Assistance Program provides monthly rental payment assistance for qualifying applicants, with the intention of helping Whitefish’s workers remain in the community. The program was pitched as a short-term solution while the city and other stakeholders work on more long-term solutions to the Whitefish housing crisis. The workforce assistance program runs through the nonprofit Housing Whitefish.
As of early October, the program has approved 45 total applications, which is up from 17 that were initially approved with the first round of applications in the spring. Twenty of the approved applications have come from single-parent households. Approved applications have facilitated rental assistance covering 94 people, including 40 children, according to Housing Whitefish. The approved applicants work at 38 different businesses in Whitefish and represent a wide range of industries including restaurants, lodging, media, nonprofits, financial and banking, government, education, legal services, industrial, construction, retail and fitness, according to Daniel Sidder, the executive Director of Housing Whitefish.
Information collected by Housing Whitefish about program participants shows that those who have received rental assistance through the program have been living in Whitefish for 8.7 years on average, and 74% reported being at risk of moving from the Flathead because of the cost of housing,
The average rent for people approved for assistance through the program is $1,657 a month, with an average household income of $46,523. On average, the Whitefish Workforce Rental Assistance Program has provided monthly rental assistance payments of $316.
Participants have moved 1.85 times on average in the last three years, according to Housing Whitefish’s data. On average the household income for individual applicants is at about $38,800 or about 58% of the average median income in Whitefish.
Criteria for eligibility include living in the 59937 zip code, making under 100% of the area median income, and paying more than 30% of income towards rent. Sidder, the executive director for Housing Whitefish, estimates that the program is helping about 12% of the eligible households in the 59937 zip code.
So far the program has not denied any applicants as a result of funding, according to Sidder. In most cases, applicants are ineligible for the program because they are not paying more than 30% off their income towards rent.
When the pilot program launched in 2024, the initial plan was to review applications in quarterly cycles, but earlier this month it was announced that applications would now be accepted on a rolling basis. The shift from a quarterly application cycle to accepting applications on a rolling basis is something the nonprofit’s executive director says is intended to be more responsive to community members’ housing needs.
“We know that housing opportunities and challenges can arise quickly,” Sidder said of the new application process changes. “And we feel that a rolling application will allow the program to assist more community members when they need rental assistance.”
The largest supporter of the program is the City of Whitefish. In December of 2023 Whitefish City Council unanimously approved providing $200,000 from its affordable housing fund to help pay for the pilot program.