Daily Montanan
by Daily Montanan Staff
"Gov. Gianforte extends Housing Task Force"
"Gov. Greg Gianforte on Thursday extended his housing task force through June 2025, citing in part the continued lack of affordable workforce housing in Montana and private residential construction costs 'skyrocketing' 18.4% in just one year.
'While we’ve made great progress to increase the supply of affordable, attainable housing for Montanans, there’s more work to do, and we’re not done yet,' Gianforte said in a statement. 'I look forward to our Housing Task Force continuing to develop more commonsense solutions to address one of the most pressing issues facing hardworking Montanans...'
The governor’s task force produced two reports last year that identified problems it considered to be at the root of the state’s housing shortage and provided solutions that could be implemented administratively or through changes to law, according to the news release.
The task force’s recommendations provided a roadmap for lawmakers ahead of the 2023 legislative session, leading to the 'historic pro-housing reforms' adopted in Montana that some have dubbed the 'Montana Miracle,' the news release said.
A Republican supermajority controlled the legislature this year, and at the end of the session, Democrats said lawmakers should have done more to address the housing crisis in Montana and had shorted renters in particular.
'The majority provided no immediate solutions to the housing crisis, no relief for renters,' said Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, in a statement after the session also criticizing the lack of investment in working families despite an historic $2 billion surplus."
