The City of Whitefish; planning in the midst of class gentrification in Montana

This is a follow-up episode to our 2024 episode on Housing in Montana. In that episode, we covered various facets of the housing crisis, to show the complexities that exist and paths of action forward.  In the episode, we looked at the process that Whitefish was taking to update their growth policy, with the housing crisis and growing pains being especially heightened there, as it has fully become a resort town, pushing working class locals out.

Whitefish has been going through a thorough public input process over the past year, to inform the growth policy. Recently, a small special interest group proposed their own version of the Economic Development chapter of the growth policy, with several edits and censorships from the original. On May 21st, two weeks ago, the Whitefish Community Development Board voted to adopt this new draft, which many believe undermines the public's feedback and discredits the lengthy public input process.

In this episode, we hear more about these happenings, and the larger story that it tells about wealth pushing local people out of their communities, transparent local planning, and having honest conversations about the impacts of high end tourism.

This episode is largely to inform Whitefish residents of the changes, to contribute to their own research and engagement. And the episode can speak to communities everywhere, as similar degrees of pressures are being felt nation-wide. 

We also hear from Nathan Dugan, Co-Founder of ShelterWF, about these recent events. ShelterWF is a grassroots organization in Whitefish, MT, advocating for policies & engagement that ensures communities and housing opportunities for working class folks in the Flathead Valley.

LINKS:

Vision Whitefish 2045 - Engage Whitefish-Growth Policy Update, join email newsletter, submit comments

ShelterWF, also on Instagram

Northwest Montana Tenants Union, also on Instagram

Housing Whitefish, also on Instagram

Whitefish Community Development Board Meeting May 2025, Part 1 

Whitefish Community Development Board Meeting May 2025, Part 2  

Whitefish Pilot article on recent CDB Meeting

Whitefish Citizen Portal 

File for Flathead County City Councils (Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls), deadline June 11th 2025

Housing in Montana - Stories for Action podcast episode, 2024

Stories for Action holds a mission to use the power of storytelling to spark positive action for people and place. Learn more about our film production, podcast, and story workshops for non-profit organizations: StoriesforAction.org  Follow along on our Instagram and Facebook: @StoriesforAction

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