By Carli Johnson SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, Bozeman realtor Jeremy Seglem hosted a panel discussion titled “Bozeman on the Brink” to address growing public concern around housing affordability, water rights and the controversial WARD initiative ahead of the Nov. 4 municipal election.
The panel brought together local leaders from the nonprofit, government and private sectors to weigh in on the WARD initiative which, if passed, would tie development approvals to strict affordability and water contribution requirements. The conversation was moderated by Seglem and closed with questions from the audience.
Panelists included Bozeman City Commissioner Douglas Fischer, Gallatin County Commissioner Jennifer Boyer, Nathan Stein of Headwaters Community Housing Trust, Pat Byorth of Trout Unlimited, Todd Waller of Venture West Development, and Emily Lashelle of Bozeman Tenants United.
Seglem told EBS that he intentionally did not invite members of the WARD initiative, aiming to open the conversation across varying organizations and inform the couple dozen audience members in attendance.
Seglem opened the discussion by asking panelists to outline what they saw as pros and cons of the initiative. City Commissioner Douglas Fischer, specifying that he was speaking as a private citizen, expressed concern about the rigidness of the proposal.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the City of Bozeman needs to focus on affordability and water,” he said. “My concern with WARD is that it takes two tricky problems and ties them together with a rigid mandate that is going to lead to a bunch of unintended consequences.”
Nathan Stein, executive director of Headwaters Community Housing Trust, said that while the initiative attempts to address the right problem, it fails on practice grounds.
“I think they’re targeting the number one issue in the community,” Stein said, “Our perspective is that the math doesn’t work. It ultimately does more harm than good.”
Stein shared that in a recent public opinion poll conducted by his organization, 77% of respondents said they or someone close to them were directly experiencing housing affordability challenges.
County Commissioner Jennifer Boyer highlighted the growing complexity of water and housing policy at the county level. She cited new efforts around septic system safety, water conservation and the county’s first-ever housing strategy.
“We’ve recognized both of these issues as a problem,” Boyer said. “It’s not surprising someone would want to solve them with one solution.”
Seglem shifted the conversation to discuss the third party economic study commissioned by the City of Bozeman to understand the potential effects of WARD.
Todd Waller, principal of Venture West Development, voiced strong opposition to the initiative, arguing that WARD would functionally halt new development within city limits.
“If we stop building homes and demand continues to increase, prices are only going to increase,” Waller said. “This isn’t unique to the City of Bozeman, we’re seeing this challenge nationwide.”
Emily Lashelle, organizing director of Bozeman Tenants United, said her union unanimously voted against WARD. Despite representing renters who are often in the most precarious housing situations, Lashelle said WARD could backfire by restricting supply and pushing rents even higher.
“We’re not siding with developers,” Lashelle said. “But we do agree that this is essentially a building moratorium. The crisis of housing is being offered a solution that at the end of the day actually hurts the tenant by giving us fewer options to choose from.”
She added that while the proposal might be well-intentioned, it has been adopted in public conversation by voices aiming to “close the door behind them” on Bozeman’s growth.
Throughout the evening, panelists emphasized the need for creative, actionable solutions grounded in economic feasibility.
Stein added that affordable housing development comes with steep costs that require subsidy. His organization’s flagship project Bridger View, located off of Bridger Drive and Story Mill Park, was only made possible through $15 million in philanthropic support. He emphasized that without public or private subsidy to close the gap between development cost and affordable pricing, the project simply would not have happened.
“I think we all agree that we’re not getting affordable housing fast enough. The problem we’re up against is a money problem,” Stein said. “We need more sources of local subsidy that we can use to plug these gaps in bringing these units to the market.”
While opinions on the panel varied, most agreed that the challenges WARD aims to address are real and urgent. As election day approaches, voters will ultimately decide whether WARD’s ambitious approach to affordability and water policy will shape the city’s future growth or hinder it.
