People with concerns about how the city of Bozeman is addressing affordable housing will have a chance to seek clarity and ask questions at a public meeting this week. City officials are holding an open house to discuss updating Bozeman’s affordable housing ordinance. The meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 21, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Fire Station 3, 1705 Vaquero Parkway. The event will include a short presentation and several tables manned by city staffers that people can rotate through, Bozeman Housing and Urban Renewal Manager David Fine told Montana Free Press. He hopes the format inspires free-flowing conversations and an exchange of ideas. Bozeman is seeking feedback on its affordable housing ordinance, which the city commission adopted in September of 2022. The ordinance outlines voluntary incentives for affordable housing, offering developers deviations from building height, lot size and parking requirements in exchange for including a percentage of affordable units in new developments. Since its implementation, the policy has spurred the building of about 1,500 affordable units, Fine said.But the ordinance has been met with pushback, with some arguing that straying from height and parking requirements harms neighborhood character. Outcry over a mammoth development called the Guthrie Project in midtown Bozeman moved the city commission to deny the project in July and consider updating the ordinance. “We’re taking the opportunity to take what we’ve learned in administering this ordinance over two years and tighten it up to make it work better and work more as intended,” Fine said.Fine said he wants to know which “lever” for affordability the public is most willing to accept — for example, whether people prefer taller buildings with more parking spots or the opposite, shorter buildings with less parking availability. The bulk of the pushback has surrounded the ordinance’s “deep incentives” for developments to contain 50% affordable, income-based units. A city report, available here, presented four different options for modifying those incentives for officials to weigh. Still, the incentives are one of the few remaining tools to secure affordable housing, Fine said, after the Montana Legislature outlawed requiring affordable units — a policy called inclusionary zoning used in Bozeman and Kalispell — in the 2021 session. The city is also soliciting feedback through a short online survey available here. Fine said as of Nov. 12, the survey had received more than 100 responses, although officials are still hoping for more, especially from renters.One question in the survey asks people what policies they would like to see implemented and notes certain ideas would require a change in state law. Policies the city is barred from pursuing include rent control, rental increase caps, application fee controls and taxing second homes or out-of-state buyers. It’s important to educate people on the limitations, Fine said, again stressing that “we don’t have a lot of tools.” The updated ordinance will also address new conditions in the market, Fine said. One change needed is to redefine the income level to qualify for affordable units. The 2022 ordinance allowed affordable units for people making at or below 80% area median income (AMI). But incomes have surged since 2022 and now people at 80% AMI are better able to afford market-rate rents, according to a city analysis. Lowering the threshold to 60% AMI to obtain an affordable unit will help the people most in need, Fine said. “There are over 7,000 households in Bozeman that are at or below 60% of the area median income, and we currently only have about 1,500 units that are income-targeted in our market. So by focusing the ordinance, we’re focusing it on the area where there’s the greatest need,” Fine said.The HRDC and other public commenters have recommended readjusting the AMI threshold. Fine said Bozemanites have already had opportunities to share their thoughts on the ordinance, and ideas have been presented to the city’s planning, community development and economic vitality advisory boards.Based on that feedback, the city plans to draft an updated affordable housing ordinance that will likely be presented to the city commission at the end of January, Fine said. “The commission didn’t direct us to throw it out. They directed us to improve it, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town.The post Bozeman officials revising affordable housing ordinance, seek community feedback  appeared first on Montana Free Press.