2 February 2023 — 0641 mst
But not made out of ticky tacky
Little homes on little lots should be part of the
solution to Montana’s affordable housing crisis
By James Conner
Excessive minimum lot sizes result when local planners and planning boards try too hard to protect property values. Housing costs that are not affordable for low and low middle income families are the consequence.
In Kalispell’s R-1 zone, for example, the minimum lot size is 20,000 square feet, almost half an acre. A lot that size is for half-million-dollar homes, not dwellings that school teachers, bartenders, nurses, plumbers, and carpenters can afford.
But split eight ways, a near half-acre lot accommodates eight compact three bedroom homes that, with creative construction and financing, might be within financial reach of regular Joes and Jills.
House Bill 337, sponsored by Rep. Katie Zolnikov (R, HD-45, Billings), preempts nasty local fights over lot sizes by authorizing lots as small as 2,500 square feet on which small homes, including prefabricated homes, can be placed on permanent foundations where connections to sewer and water systems exist.
It’s a good bill that’s received considerable support from citizens, but, reports the Daily Montanan, also has received substantial pushback from city planners and an association of local governments.
Kelly Lynch, the executive director of the Montana League of Cities and Towns, said local governments plan to introduce an alternative land use planning and housing measure that has been in the works for more than a year.
Lynch acknowledged that smaller lot sizes might be a good housing strategy, but said they should be considered as part of comprehensive land use planning reform.
The promise of an local governments drafted omnibus bill might be just a tactic for opposing reform. If the bill has been in the works for more than a year, and has not been introduced, that means the governments behind it have not been able to agree on what it should do, and how that should be done. They might never agree.
Meanwhile, HB-337, a good bill working it’s way through the legislature, deserves support and should be voted into law.
You can use the legislature’s Have Your Say portal to let the house government committee know you support HB-377.
Malvina Reynolds wrote Little Boxes (lyrics) to protest giant cookie cutter subdivisions.