WCDA unveils 1st draft of housing action plan

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Community Development Authority presented the first draft of its statewide strategic housing plan this week which identifies the state’s greatest housing needs and how to address related concerns.

WCDA selected Abt Global, a consulting and research firm, to craft the plan and it held its second of two public meetings Monday in Cheyenne to share what it has learned so far and get more feedback before finalizing the plan in November.

A statewide housing needs assessment released by the WCDA in March shows that Wyoming needs to add 20,700 to 38,600 units between 2021 and 2030 to support the state’s growing population.

In 2023, only 1,681 units were produced.

“There’s a real disconnect between the housing that’s being produced in Wyoming and the housing needs of the people in Wyoming,” said Kimberly Burnett, a senior associate at Abt Global.

In her presentation to the public Monday, Burnett explained five main strategies that have been identified to start to address the housing crisis in Wyoming on a local and statewide level. She said she and her team have created the draft based on interviews with stakeholder groups, review of state and local laws, public forums and other research.

The first item Burnett discussed was how to expand resources available for housing and infrastructure.

She said 70% of survey respondents as part of their research said high development costs and limited state and local funding for development are top barriers for meeting housing needs. Burnett suggested the state consider creating a flexible housing development fund. This is a fund to support local needs such as funding for land acquisition, infrastructure or construction that could be funded by oil/mineral revenues or real estate transfer taxes.

“You really can’t even build workforce housing without a boost, without some public subsidy,” Burnett said. “And that’s just the reality of construction costs.”

She noted that it is also important to empower localities to raise revenues for housing. This could include using a special purpose excise tax, also known as a sixth-penny sales tax, to support housing development.

Burnett also suggested expanding local flexibility to use revenue from a short-term rental tax for workforce housing needs by increasing the maximum rate to 4%.

Tax Increment Financing is another option to consider, Burnett said, by expanding the authority localities have to use those funds to support housing developments in urban renewal areas.

Stephen Whitlow, another senior associate for Abt Global, discussed the importance of targeted infrastructure expansion.

He suggested doing this by conducting a statewide infrastructure expansion feasibility assessment of water capacity for new housing and job growth and diagnosing and mitigating barriers to localities accessing funding for infrastructure expansion. He said state funding is available, but localities often face barriers to access it.

Burnett added that the state and localities should also consider ways to assist homebuyers and homeowners, potentially through helping with home repair and weatherization or removing barriers to titling manufactured homes as real property.

She said for renters with incomes between $20,000 and $35,000, the housing cost burden rose from 41% to 67% between 2010 and 2021 and lawmakers should also consider providing emergency rental assistance to prevent homelessness.

The second strategy she outlined is to reduce regulatory barriers to new housing development.

She said this could be done by continuing the work of the Regulatory Reduction Task Force and making code changes on a local level, citing some of the Unified Development Code amendments from Cheyenne relating to minimum lot area, density and parking.

The third strategy is to build capacity among public and private sectors. Burnett said this could be achieved through ensuring localities are aware of available resources, expanding public-private partnerships to increase funding for skilled trades and property management training and updating skilled trades licensing processes and facilitating reciprocity with neighboring states.

She continued, noting the importance of developing and implementing innovative approaches such as exploring opportunities to expand modular housing construction and considering establishing a statewide workforce housing land trust.

The final strategy she outlined is to build momentum on solutions to address housing challenges. Burnett said this is important in creating sustainable solutions to address housing.

As part of the plan, Abt Global will also create a local policy tool that localities can use to see which strategies are best suited for their environment.

“Housing … it’s mostly in the hands of local officials. The land use regulations, many of the building codes, those decisions are made at the local level,” Burnett said. “So, the state has a limited role to play, but it does have kind of a strategic role to play in improving these conditions.”

She noted the importance of housing to economic growth, stating that shifts in employment rates mean housing is no longer affordable to the Wyoming workforce.

As of October 2023, there were two job openings for every unemployed person and data from the University of Wyoming shows that 70% of its graduates leave the state. Wyoming’s older population is growing, and many cannot afford to downsize and may have more housing units than they need.

Abt Global will continue to research and get feedback to craft its plan, which is expected to be complete in about a month.