Affordable Housing Mitigation Requirements in Gallatin County, Montana

A mandatory program banned by the state, replaced with voluntary incentives

In 2021, the Montana Legislature passed House Bill 259, which prohibits cities statewide from requiring developers to pay housing fees or dedicate property for the purpose of providing housing at specified income levels or sale prices -- effectively banning mandatory inclusionary zoning. Bozeman, which had built affordable-housing requirements into its development approvals before that point, responded in 2022 by adopting Ordinance 2105, replacing the mandatory framework with a voluntary incentive-based program: a developer who builds at least 50% of a project's units at an income-restricted affordable price receives substantial incentives (density, height, and parking relief) in return, but a developer who declines to participate simply builds under standard zoning with no affordability component required.

Bozeman revisited the ordinance again in January 2025: city commissioners voted 3-1 to repeal and replace the Affordable Housing Ordinance with a revised version proposed by city staff, meaning the specific incentive levels and participation terms in effect today are not the same ones adopted in 2022. If you're a developer weighing whether to participate, or a buyer evaluating a project that used the ordinance's incentives to secure extra density or height, confirm which version of the ordinance applied to that specific project's approval, and what the currently effective terms are, directly with the City of Bozeman rather than relying on older secondary reporting.

A documented track record: hundreds of rental units, but no for-sale affordable homes

Bozeman's voluntary program has a real, if lopsided, production record. Reporting on the ordinance found it had generated 387 completed affordable units with roughly 1,079 more in the pipeline across 15 projects. But in the four years since the 2021 state ban on mandatory inclusionary zoning took effect, zero affordable for-sale homes had been constructed in the city under the program -- participation has run almost entirely through rental units rather than ownership housing. If your interest in Gallatin County land is tied to entry-level or workforce homeownership supply near Bozeman specifically (as opposed to rental availability), that gap between the ordinance's stated goals and its actual for-sale output is worth factoring into your expectations.

No comparable documented program for Big Sky, Belgrade, or unincorporated county land

This page's research found a documented, actively-administered affordable-housing mitigation program only for the City of Bozeman. No comparable inclusionary-zoning or voluntary housing-incentive ordinance specific to Big Sky, Belgrade, Manhattan, or unincorporated Gallatin County land was found -- unsurprising given the 2021 state law's statewide ban on the mandatory version, but each jurisdiction's own decision (or non-decision) to build a voluntary substitute like Bozeman's should be confirmed directly rather than assumed. Big Sky in particular has its own significant affordability pressures tied to the resort economy; ask the Big Sky Resort Area District or Gallatin County Planning directly whether any housing-incentive program applies there before assuming Bozeman's ordinance is relevant to a Big Sky project.