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Home My WebLink About03-02-17 Public Comment - D. Jamison with Greater Gallatin United Way - Affordable Housing, Strategic Plan LIVE UNITED Greater Gallatin , United Way Greater Gallatin United Way OFFICERS March 2, 2017 Chair of the Board Matt Kelley,Gallatin City-County Health Dept. First Vice Chair To: Bozeman City Commissioners Rob Watson,Bozeman Public Schools Second Vice Chair Mike Hegel,Northwestern Energy Housing is a fundamental need for all. Limited housing options and high housing costs Treasurer in the City of Bozeman and surrounding areas will increasingly have a negative impact Scott Holton,Rudd&Co. Secretary on individuals,families, businesses, organizations, and on our city's economy. Shannon O'Hare,Stockman Bank The Greater Gallatin United Way(GGUW) Board of Directors and staff urge you to BOARD Roland Bachmann include diversified housing(single family, condo, townhome, apartment,tiny home, CRH Trident rental and homeownership), and particularly housing for those at 60%or less of Gale Bacon, average median income (AMI) as one of your top 3 priorities during your upcoming Belgrade Community Library Canaan B ntadellfCommunity , retreat and ongoing visioning and planning as a Commission. Coffman Engineers George Haddenhorst, As an organization, we see the impact of the housing shortage when we discuss Yellowstone Electric scholarship opportunities with families who use our kidsLINK Afterschool program. Amy Kanuch, Montana State University kidsLINK provides out-of-school-time care at 29 sites (9 in the City of Bozeman)for Rick Landers, working families who need a safe place for their children before school, after school, Axilon Law Group and on PIR days. Last year GGUW provided $303,480 in scholarships for 396 students Katharine Leque, Law Office of Katharine E.Leque,PLLC from 233 families. Through the scholarship application process, we learn about the Patricia McKernan, families' needs. Microbion Corp. Jan Nord,MT Community Development Corporation The cost of living in Bozeman is higher when adjusted for income than that of living in Steve Schmidt, Manhattan, New York*. We see that the majority of families across income levels Hope Lutheran Church (even households earning 100%or higher of AMI) are struggling to pay their bills from Leland Stocker, Belgrade Public Schools month to month and have minimal savings. The shortage and cost of housing (whether Carrie Taylor, rental rates or mortgages) is a challenge for the majority of the 4,500 students and First Security Bank their families using the kidsLINK Afterschool programs. Kurt Thomson, Stahly Engineering&Assoc. Honorary Board Member We also see the impact of the housing shortage and cost of housing affecting our staff. Joe Billion,Billion Auto Group In recent months a new staff member hired from out of state was unable to find STAFF housing for 8 weeks. It took immense time and effort for her to find a place to live and President&CEO the process of searching for housing, interviewing and moving from one temporary DanicaJamison living situation to another was stressful, affected productivity at work, and was costly Director of Development both in terms of money and time for her and for our organization. Marjorie Seymour kidsLINK Afterschool Program Director Megan Brenna Our business and non-profit partners have communicated similar housing challenges Community Impact Coordinator for for their staff, particularly among childcare, hotel, restaurant, and service industries. Early Childhood Community Council& Graduation Matters Gallatin Non-governmental entities such as HRDC, Habitat for Humanity, Family Promise,the Tyson Krinke faith community,and the other 20+organizations involved in the Greater Gallatin Young ChildHomeless ( ) are g lot o effort into housing Wellness Coordinator, Project LAUNCH Hl Action Coalition GGHAC in a lf eff i hin because it is putting Sarah Webb such a tremendous challenge. If it were easy to build affordable housing, builders and KaeLlNeCotis choolProgram Assistant developers would already be doing it and meeting the housing needs for all. But the Karen DeCotis p Y g g g MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA, housing issue, as you are aware, is complex. kidsLINK Afterschool Erica Guralnick *Bozeman Daily Chronicle,Feb 24,2016,"Low Bozeman wages put cost of living stats in Administrative Assistant perspective," by Eric Dietrich,Chronicle Staff Writer Mahalia Pauls Accounting Intern Phyllis Gartner Accountant(Contract) Kaylee Assibey Montana Afterschool Alliance(Contract) 945 Technology Blvd.,#101 F, Bozeman, MT 59718 Julia Gustafson Tel. (406) 587-2194 Fax(406)586-0996 www.GreaterGallatinUnitedWay.org .leave a 4u4o f legacy: wowodm 0 ea 044Ww% u&d Z" i s Vo=u�ie2. We see that the complexity includes: • shortage of land within the city limits that is suitable for housing development • cost of land • cost and other challenges of infrastructure • increasing population due to university/industry growth &desirability of this beautiful area • current shortage of affordable rentals and housing in the real estate market which means there is a waiting list of hundreds of people who have been approved for financing who can't find housing to move into • financial risks for developers and builders to build affordable homes. Cities across the country are facing these challenges and these cities' governments are active, creative collaborators with the building industry, non-profits, and other partners investing in diverse and affordable housing. While many efforts are underway to work on the housing shortage in the City of Bozeman (Larkspur Commons, Stoneridge, Cabin Project, Tiny Homes Village, Sartain Road, Beall & 241h, Story Mill), there are no solutions in the works comprehensive enough to meet the size of this growing housing challenge. The City needs your leadership on this complex housing issue. We believe a good place to move forward is for the City Commission to develop a clear, specific vision and direction in the new Strategic Plan with goals that would guide the Growth Policy/Community Plan. This would then guide codes and regulations as they pertain to affordable housing. There is very little in the current Strategic Plan draft that addresses affordable housing or specific goals of providing family housing to those in our community at 60%or less of AMI earning levels. It is crucial to have a broad and overarching statement that would allow city staff, CAHAB, and other community partners to pursue more specific goals, policies and practices through the revision of the Unified Development Code,subordinate plans, and regulatory documents. Please consider inserting affordable housing as a priority in the Strateaic Plan with a statement such as the following: "The City of Bozeman will,through its plans,codes, regulations and policies,actively encourage the development of sustainable and lasting housing options for those families at or below the 60%Average Median Income." During the process of crafting this letter to you,the Greater Gallatin United Way board of directors and staff engaged in robust discussion on this complex topic to come to consensus on what to share with you. We encourage you to engage with this topic at your retreat and put it forefront on the City's agenda and Strategic Plan. As an organization whose strategic plan it is to reduce poverty and homelessness and improve lives in the community,we respectfully request that you include us in your discussions and decision making process. We currently invest in preventing homelessness and provide funding for our non-profit partners' housing initiatives which aim to meet the needs of our community's homeless youth,families, seniors,veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and others. We feel we can provide insight into both the problems and possible solutions. We are an organization of individuals who are truly invested in these problems and very interested in providing you support as needed for developing solutions. We appreciate the challenge of your public role and thank you for undertaking the community challenges facing the City of Bozeman. Sincerely, Danica Jamison, President&CEO,on behalf of Greater Gallatin United Way Board of Directors and Staff