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Sarah Vowell Says My Beloved College Town (Bozeman, Montana) Has a Problem: It’s too Popular
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The rest of the state pokes fun of Bozeman’s stuck-up urbanity as “a nice city that’s very close to Montana.” That’s fair. I refer to everywhere east of Big Timber as “West Dakota.” Metropolitan status confers perks the Sons of the Pioneers never sang about, like funding from Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program, which finances water and sewer updates as well as low-income housing.
But then the O.M.B., like a crow dropping a mouse corpse from the sky, announced a proposed change to the “metropolitan” threshold to populations of at least 100,000. This could stymie Bozeman and other up and comers, demote cities like Muncie, Ind., and Santa Fe, N.M., as well as Montana’s metropolitans Great Falls and Missoula, and pit rural areas against downgraded urban neighbors. Senator Jon Tester called this potential revision “the death knell of Montana,” and just introduced a bill to prohibit the O.M.B. from raising the metropolitan yardstick past 50,000 people.
Ms. Vowell, a contributing Opinion writer and the author of “The Wordy Shipmates” and “Lafayette in the Somewhat United States,” writes extensively about Montana, the American West and U.S. history.
Missoula and Gallatin County, Montana Have Some of the Most Expensive Homes in America
Assuming a 20% down payment, it would take a minimum annual income of $79,181 to afford a typical home in Missoula County, in keeping with the 28% rule. For context, across the U.S. as a whole, an annual income of about $52,523 is enough to afford a typical home, assuming the same 20% down payment and 28% affordability ratio.
City leaders recap another year in Missoula’s 10-year plan to end homelessness
Looking around Missoula, you can see this harsh reality play out as urban campers flock to the Poverello Center, live in tents off highway 93, or spend their days on the lawn of the courthouse.
Input sought from Bozeman community members as a part of the Equity Indicators Project
A release from the City of Bozeman says the survey questions are focused on rating the level of need for resources, services, and opportunities to improve access to housing, transportation and public health and safety to support the needs and quality of life for all people in the community.
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