Live Local offers up to $400 per month to full-time working residents
By Victoria Smith EBS CONTRIBUTOR
Workers in Big Sky may now be eligible to receive rental support through Live Local, a new pilot program launched by Big Sky Community Housing Trust.
The program aims to provide local workers with monthly rental assistance payments to help make housing more affordable. Amounts of assistance provided will vary per recipient, depending on the total amount of rent cost that goes over 30% of their gross income.
Live Local is starting off with a limit of $400 of assistance per household, per month, with a total limit of $4,800 per year. Recipients can receive assistance under the program for up to one year, and assistance payments will be disbursed to landlords directly. The program is funded with financial support from Moonlight Community Foundation, Spanish Peaks Community Foundation and Resort Tax.
Eligibility requirements for the program include renting a property full-time in Big Sky, working at least 1,560 hours annually in Big Sky, having a household income at or below 100% of the area median income limit for Gallatin County—which varies depending on total members per household—and spending more than 30% of gross income toward rent.
Income limits of the program are based on annual figures released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The housing trust lists 100% area median income limits for the program as $84,500 for a one-member household, and up to $140,000 for a six-member household.
The housing trust began planning Live Local in November of last year, modeling it after another program currently active in Whitefish, Montana, called the Workforce Rental Assistance Program.
“Most people in our line of work say that most of our great ideas are somebody else’s great ideas. We share a lot of information with other communities,” said David O’Connor, executive director of Big Sky Community Housing Trust. “Big Sky is a young ski resort, so we have the benefit of having lots of other [ski towns] go before us.”
The housing trust announced Live Local on Friday, March 13, and since reviewing information from early applicants, BSCHT has noticed trends in applicants’ housing costs. For example, individuals often spend between 35% to 45% of their gross income on housing in Big Sky.
“The national standard is closer to 30%, so the goal of Live Local is to bring them down to that 30% range and get their housing costs a bit more under control, so that they can afford to be in Big Sky and can afford to continue to contribute to our community,” said Becky Brockie, director of programs and communications for the housing trust.
Since its creation in 2016, the housing trust has strived toward providing affordable, attainable and stable housing for the local workforce in Big Sky. This has included the undergoing of various building projects and the creation of multiple programs, such as Live Local.
The pilot program is one of the three current programs overseen by the nonprofit, with Good Deeds and Rent Local offering other forms of workforce housing assistance. Live Local is a spin-off of Rent Local, Brockie said, which is a program that works with current homeowners in the community to subsidize affordable, long-term rentals offered to local workers.
“The Rent Local [program] is a supply side… There’s availability and affordability,” O’Connor said. “Rent Local is availability. Live Local is affordability. So now that we were able to use Rent Local to make some things available, now we tackle the problem of whether or not that’s affordable.”
BSCHT has further increased availability of housing through its building projects, including the MeadowView Condominiums completed in 2021, which created 52 homes, deed-restricted for full-time workers. The nonprofit additionally built two income-restricted apartment buildings on the RiverView campus, completed in 2024, creating 25 apartments with funding from the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
The housing trust’s upcoming 99-acre project, Cold Smoke, is further expected to provide 125 new homes for ownership and 264 apartments for rent. According to the nonprofit’s website, the first apartments are slated to be available in 2028, and the first homes are to be available in 2029.
“We’re literally going to be breaking ground [on the project] here in the next week or two,” O’Connor said in late March.
The state of workforce housing in 2026
While the housing trust has provided pathways for many members of the local workforce to obtain housing, various factors have indicated to the nonprofit that housing is still a challenge. Some of these include Big Sky’s zero vacancy rate for long-term rentals in the community, and a steady decline in enrollment across pre-K and K-12 at public and private schools after COVID brought a short-term surge of families to Big Sky.
“[The steady decline in enrollment is] certainly a national trend, but it’s accelerating here from where it’s been at a pretty stable rate,” O’Connor said.
The nonprofit is in the process of completing an updated housing needs assessment that will factor in the Cold Smoke project and its impacts. This assessment will consider jobs available in the community, along with existing housing availability, incomes and other cost of living factors, to then determine community needs. The nonprofit’s last assessment in 2023 showed a need for approximately 1,350 homes in Big Sky by 2028.
“Housing is a moving target. It changes every single day…” O’Connor said. “As we continue to build and rectify the need, the need continues to grow as well.”
Brockie encourages individuals who are interested in renting to join BSCHT waitlists, inquire about employee housing, network with friends and community members and speak with local property managers. Individuals interested in buying are encouraged to begin saving money now, and to speak with a lender and real estate agent to further prepare for purchasing a home. From that point forward, the housing trust’s Good Deeds program may provide valuable support.
“Planning, and being tenacious, and using all of your resources are who usually wins in Big Sky,” Brockie said.
For community members who wish to get involved with the nonprofit’s work, O’Connor said the housing trust is always on the lookout for board members or committee members with expertise in certain subjects, such as construction, real estate and banking. Individuals can also donate a property to the nonprofit, which would then become permanently deed restricted to allow the housing trust to keep the house affordable.
“Our mission is not just to provide housing, but to provide the tools needed for a well-rounded community like Big Sky to be able to provide all the services that its residents need,” O’Connor said. “So everything from quality of life to filling all the roles… that it takes to make the community operate.”
