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Poll: 81% of Missoula respondents say city lacks enough housing as council advances Unified Development Code
Summary
An InBOLD Research poll presented to city planners found 81% of Missoula respondents say the city does not have enough housing. Planners said the Unified Development Code will steer housing toward amenity-rich areas while using equity analysis to limit concentrated upzoning; the council plans to meet Dec. 22 on the code.
Trenton Marler of InBOLD Research told city planners and the community that a recent poll showed 81% of Missoula respondents believe the city does not have enough housing, a view that was consistent across income levels and strongest among renters and people staying with family or friends.
"Eighty-one percent of Missoula voters say the city does not have enough housing," Marler said, and the figure rose to 89% among renters and 93% among people staying with friends or family. The polling was presented as part of the city's work on a Unified Development Code (UDC) that will reshape zoning and where new housing is allowed.
Mark Hendrickson from Community Planning said the UDC work is pairing higher-intensity housing with existing amenities and transit corridors. Hendrickson described darker zones on the draft map as areas intended to absorb more housing and said the city is focusing growth in places such as downtown, the University District and along major corridors including Brooks, Russell, South and Higgins.
Hendrickson and planners also said consultants' equity analysis identified multiple neighborhoods at risk of gentrification and displacement. "We found areas vulnerable to gentrification and displacement, which spurred a policy decision to avoid concentrated upzoning in those areas," Hendrickson said, adding that the plan uses a "shared increase" approach to spread residential capacity rather than concentrating large upzones in vulnerable neighborhoods.
Erin Peehan of Community Planning said that some parts of Central Missoula and the West Side remain appropriate for higher levels of housing because they are walkable and served by transit, but the degree of change in those neighborhoods would be more limited than in places that have not been producing housing. Planners said the UDC seeks to match population centers with nearby services and amenities to avoid creating dense housing without access to basic needs.
The city is continuing outreach and will discuss the UDC at a city council meeting scheduled for Dec. 22. Planners encouraged residents to review materials and submit questions at engagemissoula.com.
What happens next: the council is scheduled to consider the Unified Development Code later this month; the presentation did not include a vote during the segment.
