At Housing Symposium, Whitefish Leaders Point to Local Solutions for Affordability Crisis

A large crowd ranging from elected officials to nonprofit leaders to residents gathered at the O’Shaughnessy Center on Tuesday to discuss one of Whitefish and the greater Flathead Valley’s greatest challenges: housing affordability.  

Hosted by Housing Whitefish, the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, and Explore Whitefish, the Whitefish Housing Symposium offered community members a glimpse into the unaffordable housing conditions looming over Whitefish, as well as the potential local, state, and federal pathways forward to address the challenges ahead.  

The event featured a slate of speakers from a mix of sectors, including housing advocacy, realty, human resources and local government, and was geared toward employers supporting staff through housing challenges, residents interested in understanding housing affordability challenges, and anyone who wanted a clearer picture of “one of the most pressing issues facing the community.”  

“Housing affordability is not just a housing issue,” Katherine Archibald, the executive director of the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, said. “It’s an economic issue that directly impacts our businesses, the workforce, and our long-term vitality of Whitefish. Our local businesses depend on that strong workforce, and those employees depend heavily on having attainable and affordable homes to call home.”

Daniel Sidder, the executive director of Housing Whitefish, kicked the symposium off by painting a picture of the current state of housing in Whitefish, where the median home price hovers around $1 million and average income levels sit at about 10 times less. 

“Whitefish is the most expensive community, in the fastest-growing county, in one of the least affordable states in the nation,” Sidder said. “I don’t share this to point blame. I don’t share this to make people feel bad. I share this to give us context for what we’ve been working through over the last couple years.”

As Whitefish’s population has grown exponentially over the last five years, housing has become less affordable and more unattainable for existing residents, Sidder said. Roughly 65% of Housing Whitefish applicants say they’re at risk of leaving Flathead County due to housing costs.

“At Housing Whitefish, we see that those with the least are struggling the most,” Sidder said. “We have entry-level workers, we have seniors, and we have single-parent households that are really bearing the burden of a lot of these increased costs. We see that low- and middle-income earners are really hanging on by a thread, and some of you might be seeing this in your businesses. One paycheck or one accident might be leading somebody in a real pickle. We see that … 60 to 70% of people that work in Whitefish are commuting into this community every day. We also see that ownership has moved out of reach.”

Sidder told attendees solutions to this growing issue, however, are well within reach, saying many remedies lie locally with the range of the organizations and housing partners in the room Tuesday. 

“In a community like Whitefish, I don’t think that [housing] supply alone is going to save us,” Sidder said. “There are more than enough bedrooms and housing units in this community to accommodate our current population, as well as our future population growth. We have enough actual housing units here. It’s just a mismatch of who’s living in those and the actual uses, so that’s where government and nonprofits tend to step in and help to fill in those gaps.

“I think that Whitefish has enough resources, expertise, and people, honestly in this room, that can make our programs run, and that is where I really think that our best solutions are going to come, locally,” he added.

Housing Whitefish’s Workforce Rental Assistance Program (WRAP) is an example of a local program looking to fill those housing gaps. The program, which started in 2024, has served nearly 155 households by shelling out roughly $500,000 in that time in rental assistance for residents and local workers. Those 155 households translate into more than 300 people representing over 90 local businesses and 100 kids in the Whitefish School District, Sidder said. 

“When rent takes less of your paycheck, people move less,” Sidder said. “They have more money for childcare, groceries, spending at local businesses, or just going on a date, right? Enjoying life. So we’re really proud of this program.”

Sidder on Tuesday announced the launch of a new iteration of WRAP — the Big Mountain Workforce Rental Assistance Program. The pilot program, which is expected to start later this month, offers rental assistance not based on zip code, but instead on where you work. Anyone working for an employer located within the Big Mountain Resort Area District, including Whitefish Mountain Resort and the businesses, lodging and services within the district, will qualify for assistance. 

Offering another local glimpse into Whitefish’s housing status, City Manager Dana Meeker described housing as “one of our most challenging issues facing our community.”

“The important message is that the city recognizes the urgency of this issue,” Meeker told symposium attendees Tuesday. “We’ve been working on it for over a decade. We also recognize that there’s no single solution.”

As part of Vision Whitefish 2045 — the city’s 20-year growth policy crafted under 2023 legislation, the Montana Land Use Planning Act (MLUPA) — the city produced a 2025 Housing Needs Assessment. The assessment determined Whitefish will need about 930 new units (342 home ownership opportunities and 588 rentals) by 2035. The city will also need to renovate or rehab 539 existing homes.

With Vision Whitefish 2045 now complete and approved by city council after roughly three years of public input, the city is ready to translate “the plan’s vision, goals and objectives into specific policies, programs, and investments,” Meeker said. To foster accountability of these goals, the city created an online community housing dashboard to inform residents of its progress.

“Vision Whitefish 2045 has set some clear direction for us,” Meeker said. “The plan calls for a diversity of housing types integrated throughout the city. It recognizes the need to serve all demographic groups, with a particular emphasis on the workforce. It also introduces a really important concept: residents should be able to move in, move up, or age in place.”

While the growth policy looks to the future, Meeker made sure to note there are already 99-units in progress, spread across various home ownership and rental projects that are anticipated to be completed in the near-term.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Meeker said. “Each of these projects have a different funding source. They have different partners. They have different affordability levels. They have different development timelines, but together, they really demonstrate that partnerships and public investments, whether it’s funding or policies … that it can translate into results.”

Meeker told attendees it’s crucial to continue this momentum, especially as housing projects can often take years to approve and build. The city of Whitefish currently has more than $5.9 million committed for community housing through land purchases, rental assistance and constructing new units in the city. 

“Housing is not just about the units we produce; it’s about the people; it’s about the resiliency of Whitefish,” Meeker said. “We need people in our community with different incomes, backgrounds, occupations, and stages of life. We need rental opportunities, home ownership opportunities, smaller homes, family-sized homes, and accessible homes. We’ve made meaningful progress, and I think we’ve been able to demonstrate that here today. But we also know and recognize the scale of work ahead of us.”

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