Whitefish has a housing crisis.

We have a plan to fix it.

Our Approach:

Problems →

We identify the problems. We research the regulatory barriers, economic dynamics, and political incentives that have created the housing shortage in Whitefish and the Flathead Valley. We publish white papers, analyze data, commission independent polling, and testify before local and state government bodies with specificity and rigor.

The typical home in Whitefish now costs over $834,000. The median household income is roughly $71,000. That means the typical home costs nearly 12 times what the typical household earns—a ratio that has more than doubled since 2007 and that puts homeownership completely out of reach for the vast majority of people who work here. Sixty-one percent of renters in Whitefish are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Almost 40% are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their income just to keep a roof over their heads.

Principles → 

We ground our work in principles. The weight of evidence demonstrates that housing undersupply is the primary driver of our affordability crisis, and the only durable solution is to allow more homes to be built. We believe cities must grow inward rather than outward, and that every neighborhood must contribute to solving the housing shortage. We are part of the Pro-Housing movement: a coalition of citizens and organizers dedicated to a vision of more affordable and livable places.

Policies →

We advance specific policies. We propose and win concrete policy changes. From ADU reform to state-level legislation, from growth policy advocacy to polling that gives voice to the silent majority who want more housing, ShelterWF has a track record of turning ideas into law.

Our policy platform is grounded in a simple economic truth that is now supported by an overwhelming consensus of housing researchers: when we allow enough homes to be built, prices come down. When we don't, prices go up, people get pushed out, and the community we care about slowly hollows from the inside.

Our Track Record

Since our founding in 2022, ShelterWF has helped win passage of some of the most significant pro-housing reforms in Montana history. We helped pass a package of state-level housing bills during the 2023 legislative session (reforms so groundbreaking they've been called the "Montana Miracle") and defended those wins at the Montana Supreme Court.

Locally, we successfully advocated for Whitefish's ADU ordinance, played a central role in the city's growth policy process, and commissioned the first independent poll of Flathead County voters on housing, which revealed overwhelming public support for the very policies we champion.

We show up—at every planning commission meeting, every city council hearing, and every legislative session—with data, with policy, and with the voices of the people this crisis hurts the most.

What Comes Next

ShelterWF's work is far from finished. The growth policy process will determine the regulatory framework for Whitefish's next 20 years. The legal battles over state housing reforms continue. And every month that passes without adequate housing production is another month of displacement, another family forced to leave, another young adult who concludes that building a life in the Flathead Valley is impossible.

But the trajectory is clear. The evidence is on our side. The public is on our side. And we're not going anywhere.

If you believe that Whitefish should be a place where everyone who works here can afford to live here, join us.