Across the Mountain West, communities are struggling at all levels to address housing affordability. Navigate has worked with counties, towns, and individual employers to develop Needs Assessments and Action Plans to help clarify the challenges and identify potential solutions.
Employer Housing Plans
Providing housing options that are affordable to your employees demands a long-term financial investment. A strategic implementation plan ensures that your resources are used effectively.
The planning process begins with a broad assessment of the housing needs of your employees and resources available to your organization. This process includes:
- Collection of data
- Evaluation of data
- Report of findings
The next step is to establish the goals and objectives specific to your organization. The following are examples of items that will be discussed:
- Employees to prioritize
- Number to be housed to maintain desired level of service
- Funding sources available – internally and externally
- Legal considerations
Based on your goals and objectives, Navigate will craft a production and management plan that fits within your budget. Recent Employer Housing Plans include:
Teton County School District Housing Action Plan (2021)
St. John’s Health Housing Analysis (2016)
Community Housing Plans
How many units does our community need to house our workforce? How many should be deed restricted to preserve affordability? What resources exist in our area to help meet these needs?
Tackling these questions often happens in two distinct steps: first, a Housing Needs Assessment, and second, a Housing Action Plan. Samples of both products can be found below:
Housing Needs Assessments
Teton Region Housing Needs Assessment (2022)
Gallatin County Regional Housing Study (2021)
Washoe Tahoe Local Employee Housing Needs and Assessment (2021)
Bozeman Community Housing Needs Assessment (2019)
Big Sky Community Housing Assessment and Needs (2018)
Town of Fraser Housing Needs and Development Study (2016)
Housing Action Plans
McCall Area Local Housing Action Plan (2022) Winner, APA Idaho GEM Award
Navigate (along with collaborators WSW Consulting, Logan Simpson, and SMR Development), was pleased to have received the 2022 APA Idaho Gem Award in recognition of their “inclusive, forward thinking, and creative” work completed in 2022 to assist McCall, Idaho in tackling the key issue of housing affordability.
Bozeman Community Housing Action Plan (2019)
Big Sky Community Housing Action Plan (2018)
Mammoth Lakes Community Housing Action Plan (2017)
Depending on the regulations in place in your area, a Nexus Study may be needed to document the links between new residential and commercial development, the employees generated by the new development, and the housing needs that result. A sample Nexus Study can be found below:
Commercial and Residential Employee Generation and Affordable Housing Nexus Study/Jackson-Teton County Housing Department (2022)
