affordable housing

Cheap Dirt explores the quirky and sometimes extreme workarounds Westerners are finding for affordable housing.

There’s been an especially steep drop in fertility rates in western states, including Wyoming, which has also seen a big jump in the cost of housing.

The Sheridan-headquartered nonprofit Volunteers of America Northern Rockies is currently running the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program on its own dime.

But it isn’t easy since she never knows when she could lose her job again. The Supreme Court recently approved the mass firings.

The monthly bill for many Wyomingites’ homes absorbs over 30% of their income, the benchmark for what’s considered affordable.

Tribes around the country receive federal support through the annual Indian Housing Block Grant program, but Trump’s proposed budget would decrease the program’s funding by about 20% next year.

That comes as Wyoming’s housing shortage worsens. Right now in Wyoming, there are only five affordable homes available for every 10 low-income renters.

A new study from Headwaters Economics shows that housing on public lands would have only a minimal impact on the West’s housing crisis, with most potential development being focused in a small number of states. Economist Megan Lawson also says that wildfire danger would be a huge risk to these potential homes.

Economic and environmental challenges could complicate the Trump administration’s proposal to create housing on public lands. A new analysis supports the idea, but says it is unlikely to solve the affordable housing crisis by itself.

The town and county’s housing programs dodged legal challenges for now, though some critics suggest future legal threats could be looming.