Since “Yellowstone” first aired, the forces of growth and development haven’t been contained to the screen. They have also changed the real Montana in major ways. Between 2018 and 2022, U.S. Census data shows that nearly 50,000 people exercised their own right to move to Montana – drawn, in part, by “Yellowstone” itself.
Kevin Costner dons a cowboy hat, rides his horse up to a rich out-of-state developer and delivers an ultimatum that, in some version, is on the tip of seemingly every longtime Montana n’s tongue.“You want to build subdivisions?” says Costner, playing a wealthy Paradise Valley rancher in the hit “Yellowstone” TV show. “Move to Dallas. I won’t have ‘em here.”
“I have every right to be here,” Jenkins said with his dying words. “I have every right. I have a right. This is America.” But Census data suggests that progress has stalled, as the number of housing permits issued statewide has declined over the past few years. It predicts some 75,000 new arrivals — enough to populate an additional Missoula-sized city — will try to squeeze into a housing market that’s already bursting at the seams by the end of 2030.
“I grew up in Montana,” he said. “I was born here, raised here, and I can remember going to places and saying, ‘Oh, I remember when it used to look like this. I remember when nobody knew about it.’”After “Yellowstone” debuted and then the pandemic hit, retirees, remote workers and other newcomers flooded into the state, “gobbling up houses” and “eating up all of the inventory,” Shirtliff said.And developers responded.
“That put a strain on our workforce,” he said. “And so, you know, trying to find people, trying to keep people, trying to train people – that adds into the time and the cost of the house.” Blake Maynard, an executive board member of the Flathead Building Association, believes more could be done to grow the housing workforce and to boost production. But he’s skeptical that proposed new policies or laws are going to lead to an explosion in new housing that will keep pace with the “staggering” number of units that are needed.
“We’re already behind,” he said. “If demand is there, if we can solve a few other issues, we can definitely support the growth. It’s just at what pace and rate it comes.” “It needs to be a partnership between the city, the county and the state and the private sector on what the needs are, how to address those needs and the reason why we have particular types of zoning, the reason why we have permitting or why annexation is the way it is,” Shirtliff said.
Exactly how much housing will be needed statewide, however, is difficult to pinpoint in the Aterio data. That’s more than double what was built last year, when only 448 new homes were permitted for construction. It’s also a significant drop from 2021, when 1,338 housing units were permitted. Pehan said the plan will encourage more homes and more home types, with an emphasis on adding smaller units across the city.
Edgell acknowledges that “allowing more density will help,” but he’s pessimistic that such a new growth policy will be enough to overcome the daunting obstacles to affordability.
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