HELENA — Governor Greg Gianforte has announced the extension of his housing task force through June 2025.
Created in July 2022, the state’s Housing Task Force has been working to find solutions to Montana’s housing supply shortage.
"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 press release. “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 task force is chaired by Department of Environmental Quality Director Chris Dorrington and is comprised of state agency leaders, legislators, local officials, association representatives, economists, researchers, stakeholders, and advocates.
Two reports have been released by the task force so far. The most recent report, released in December, gave recommendations for addressing Montana’s housing shortage. The 18 recommendations were part of three overall strategies: addressing regulators’ efficiency and capacity, gathering updated information, and investing resources to support construction and the workforce.
Housing was a hot topic issue for the 2023 Montana Legislature. Lawmakers passed a series of housing-related bills, including zoning and land use changes aimed at increasing availability – as well as House Bill 819, which invests more than $200 million into several programs to support housing development.
