Preserving Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH)

Currently a study is being conducted by Economic & Planning Systems (EPS) to determine if the exchange of a parcel of land on North 19th is a fair trade for 2 additional stories of allowed building height for the development of a luxury condo building on East Babcock behind Lockhorn Cider House.  This trade is made possible by the deep incentives of Bozeman’s Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO).  The deep incentives of the AHO provide a developer with two additional stories and zero parking requirements in exchange for 50% of the units being made affordable, or a donation of land.  I’m sure the proposed buyers of the luxury units in the new building will be put-off by having to share their building with people who need subsidized housing (although that describes nearly every working household in Bozeman these days) so putting those people somewhere else is much more palatable.  An undeveloped parcel just north of the intersection of 19th and Durston is being evaluated by EPS to see if it’s a suitable trade.  The proposed luxury development will of course include underground parking because even though the developer isn’t required to provide it, the new, more affluent residents will demand it.

The parcel behind Lockhorn Cider is not undeveloped.  It’s currently home to a number of Bozeman residents.  These homes will be demolished.

These are small units, in a terrific location, with their own onsite parking, rented at a fairly affordable price.  Sure the buildings are a little old, unassuming, and not of any real historical value (that I’m aware of).  But this is what the American Planning Association (APA) calls Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing, or NOAH.  And they suggest protecting it in a variety of ways in their December 2023 issue of Zoning Practice. Our City Commission in a January 2024 work session proposed an existing affordable housing preservation policy as a priority for the next two years.

If the evaluation by EPS suggests that the economic value of the parcel on N. 19th is equal to the cost to produce affordable housing units equal to half the number of units in the new building, the developer will get their two stories of additional height.  The problem with this is that we don’t actually get any affordable units.  We’re still left “holding the bag” so to speak, on building the actual affordable housing units!  The way our financial system is structured right now, it’s really easy to move $20 million dollars around on paper; it’s really hard to pick up a hammer and build affordable housing.  Ever heard the phrase, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?

That’s one reason NOT to put housing in the landfill.

Another reason is sustainability and climate change policy.  If we’re serious about combating climate change the last thing we should be doing is discarding the embodied energy of the existing housing in order to replace it with a concrete and steel high-rise.  Concrete is an enormous emitter of greenhouse gas.  In fact some estimates state that if concrete were a country it would be the third leading emitter of greenhouse gas in the world!  Both concrete and steel are non-renewable resources, unlike timber used to construct smaller more affordable structures.  Building a home of timber actually sequesters carbon by husbanding a renewable resource for human use.  We’re doing this type of forest management well in a lot of places. 

The new high rise will act as an enormous heat sink, exacerbating the heat island effect that we are already feeling, as the urban core is deforested to provide luxury development.  Our winters become warmer, and our summers hotter.  Just the other day after spending some time downtown on a sweltering summer evening, I returned just a half a mile away, to my neighborhood of mature trees and smaller homes, and the temperature was an immediate ten degrees cooler.  As we increase density in this manner in our core, we exacerbate the heat island effect in Bozeman.

Landfills are expensive.  They are expensive to remediate.  They are expensive to acquire new land for the next one.  Our tipping fees don’t begin to cover the cost of these long-term consequences of storing our refuse.  Housing shouldn’t be considered refuse anyway, but too often it is bull dozed and dumped. 

We could institute a deconstruction ordinance that would at least require a developer to hire a certified deconstruction contractor to take apart existing structures in order to salvage the materials and feed them into a circular economy.  Reduce, reuse, recycle, should apply to our buildings as well.  Though I’d rather see the existing affordable housing preserved, since it’s just so hard to replace.

Social Equity is the final reason we shouldn’t put NOAH in the landfill.

In my opinion, part of what makes our core neighborhoods vibrant and resilient is the economic diversity of residents.  People from all walks of life, living full-time, side by side creating community; renters and owners, young and old, students and entrepreneurs, artists and engineers.  As we continue to displace lower income, working class, and even middle class residents in our quest for higher density we are losing our culture and our sense of place so that we can accommodate a more affluent, often part-time population.  To me this is an unacceptable trade. 

Where will the current residents of those apartments on East Babcock go when their homes are torn down so the land can be put to it’s “highest and best use”?  Why not put the luxury development in the vacant lot north of 19th and Durston, and leave the existing affordable housing intact?  Well the answer is simple; the wealthy want the amenities of our core neighborhoods.  The amenities that we as a community have created through years of hard work growing and supporting local businesses and the charm of the built environment that’s been carefully husbanded through the regulations of the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD). 

But don’t the working residents of Bozeman deserve to live amongst these amenities they helped create?  That is equity.

With 95 demolitions in the last 5 years, I’m willing to bet that a huge amount of the refuse finding it’s way into our landfill is housing debris, and I’m also not surprised at the rise in the number of people experiencing homelessness or housing precarity in our community.

For several election cycles in our city, affordable housing has been the top issue.  Maybe it’s time we reframe what we consider the “highest and best use” of land.  It’s time we commit to preserving existing affordable housing.  Yes, developing the 7 story luxury condo building will increase the land value and therefore the tax income for city coffers, but at what cost?  Are we willing to recognize that some types of “progress” produce poverty, and we’ll actually spend more money on social services for the displaced?  Are we willing to admit that our financial model of chasing development dollars to fund our city operations is a completely unsustainable path forward?  Are we prepared to value our working residents above affluent investors who see our city as the open pit mine from which to extract a financial product?

I am.

Alison Sweeney

6th generation Bozeman resident

Vice Chair of the Better Bozeman Coalition.