Nonpartisan research & education · Flathead Valley, Montana
The Flathead is growing. Whether it stays livable is up to us.
We research housing, transportation, and land use across Columbia Falls, Kalispell, and Whitefish — and put the evidence in front of the people making decisions.
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One short email every Monday: what’s on the agenda, what got decided, where your voice still counts. Free, unsubscribe anytime. Or support the work.
Growth is coming either way. The question is what kind.
Left unplanned, growth spreads out — subdivisions pushed into farmland, longer commutes, and home prices that climb out of reach of the people who work here, the families who grew up here, and the retirees who want to stay.
Planned well, the same growth fits inside the towns we already have: more homes near jobs and main streets, roads that still move, and open land that stays open.
Flathead County voters agree: in a February 2026 poll, 67% said the valley doesn’t have the housing options residents need, and nearly 80% have been touched by the shortage — bidding wars, rental waitlists — or know someone who’s struggled to find a place.
We’re for planning ahead.See how the plans work
What unplanned growth costs
- Sprawlsubdivisions in the fields around town
- Housing shortageprices out workers, families, and retirees alike
- Traffic congestionevery trip gets longer
- Lost farmlandand the open space that makes this Montana
What we work for
Evidence-based, proactive growth — so the valley stays affordable, connected, and still Montana.
Homes of every kind
Duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes that workers, seniors, and young families can actually afford — not just big houses on big lots.
Choices near jobs
More homes inside our cities, a short trip from work, school, and daily needs.
Transportation that connects
Ways to get around that link the towns and take pressure off the roads, with or without a car.
Open space, kept open
Directing growth inward keeps the farmland, rivers, and rural character part of the valley, for ranchers and hikers alike.
The homes in between
Between a single house and a big apartment block sits a whole range of homes the valley stopped building. It’s where the affordable homes are.
The 2023 Montana Land Use Planning Act — passed with broad bipartisan support — asked our cities to plan for all of it. The plans are adopted; the work now is making sure these homes actually get built.
Myths vs. facts
Four things you’ll hear at city hall — and what the record shows.
“More homes won’t make anything cheaper — the builders just pocket the difference.”
Fact: When there aren’t enough homes to go around, people bid against each other for what’s there, and prices climb. More homes for sale or rent means fewer bidding wars. That’s the shortage math, not a guess.
“This is really about clearing the way for outside developers and high-rises.”
Fact: The new rules cap buildings at 60 feet in downtown commercial districts — about five stories, not a high-rise. And they don’t clear the way for anyone in particular: they apply to a homeowner adding a backyard cottage the same as to any local homebuilder.
“Add duplexes and apartments and you’ll wreck the character of the neighborhood.”
Fact: In Minneapolis, the small apartment buildings that did the most to hold rents down went in along business corridors, not on quiet residential streets. The Flathead’s new zoning follows the same pattern: corridors and existing house lots, not wholesale neighborhood change.
“Nobody around here actually wants this — it’s a handful of activists pushing it.”
Fact: A February 2026 poll of 615 registered Flathead County voters found 67% say the valley doesn’t have the housing options residents need, and 69% would rather see new homes built inside existing city boundaries than watch the valley sprawl outward. And the state law behind these changes passed the Montana Legislature 145 to 5 — about as bipartisan as votes get.
How much is actually getting built?
We track every residential building permit across Columbia Falls, Kalispell, and Whitefish — the only public record of what the new plans are delivering. We’re turning that record into a public dashboard: how many homes were permitted, what kinds, how fast they were approved, and how many actually got built.
A preview of the dashboard in development. It launches once the first year of permit records is collected and verified; the numbers stay hidden until they’re real.
Know what’s on the agenda before it’s decided.
The Land Use Planning Brief. One short email, every Monday.
- What’s coming up in Columbia Falls, Kalispell, Whitefish & Flathead County
- What got decided last week, in plain language
- Where your voice still counts this week
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Your gift pays for the research, the plain-language explainers, and the showing-up at city hall. $25 puts us at a meeting with the data in hand.
Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Livable Flathead is a doing-business-as name of Livable Places Institute, Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Rather talk it through?
Sit down with our executive director — coffee in Whitefish or a 30-minute call. Bring your questions about a project near you, the new plans, or how to get involved. No pitch, no script.
Nathan Dugan, Executive Director · nathan@livableflathead.org
