This article the third in a four-part series published by Better Wyoming looking at our state's housing crisis. Read the first two here:
Part 1: What causes Wyoming's housing crisis
Part 2: Wyoming's unaffordable housing drives young people and businesses away
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Wyoming’s housing problems arrived quickly. Home and rent prices rose as inflation set in during the COVID-19 pandemic, starting around 2020.
They have kept going up as wealthy newcomers outbid locals for homes with cash offers, the cost of construction materials remains high, and short-term rentals crowd out single-family homes in the market.
Only a few years ago, housing was not a major issue in Wyoming outside a few areas such as Teton County.
Now, however, it is everywhere, and is multiplying other issues like the state’s “brain drain” and lack of economic diversity.
Unfortunately, the problems came quickly, but the solutions will not.
State lawmakers have discussed the issue and signaled that it is a priority, but the few bills to come forward have been rejected. This is mostly because the Legislature won’t use public money to fund housing or infrastructure.
Several Wyoming cities are trying to use zoning changes to address the lack of affordable housing. These, however, do not immediately lower prices or increase availability. It will take years to see if the policies are successful.
Local and federal efforts to subsidize housing for people who can’t afford skyrocketing rents—much less buy a house—are limited. People seeking assistance face yearslong waiting lists.
State lawmakers have discussed the issue and signaled that it is a priority, but the few bills to come forward have been rejected. This is mostly because the Legislature won’t use public money to fund housing or infrastructure.
Now that the extremist so-called “Freedom Caucus” is set to take control of the Wyoming Legislature, help from the state level seems even more unlikely.
The lack of any kind of plan coming from the state level has frustrated city planners and business leaders who see how badly the housing problem is hurting their communities.
Meanwhile, more and more Wyomingites can’t afford a place to live.
Zone, zone on the range
Laramie Mayor Brian Harrington says low wages and skyrocketing house prices have made his city “wildly unaffordable.”
The mayor says he and his wife are “lucky millennials” who bought a small fixer-upper five years ago that’s appreciated in value by $100,000.
“We couldn’t have purchased it at the price it is now,” Harrington said. “We’d be locked out of the housing market. We’re both professionals with good jobs who should reasonably be able to purchase a home.”
Harrington’s own experiences encourage him to seek local solutions to Laramie’s housing shortage. Without funding, the city council has focused on a relatively cost-free approach: zoning reform.
Several Wyoming towns with housing shortages are changing zoning and construction regulations so that more housing can be built within city limits.
“We’d be locked out of the housing market. We’re both professionals with good jobs who should reasonably be able to purchase a home.”
This approach, which is popular across the nation, increases housing “density” and makes more efficient use of available land.
Both Laramie and Cheyenne have decreased their minimum lot sizes so that more, smaller, and more affordable homes can be built within the existing footprint of the cities.
Laramie’s regulations also allow homeowners to build secondary structures on their lots. These are commonly called “mother-in-law” units, often built in the backyard. Harrington says this will allow more housing to be constructed at a lower price.
“There isn’t a zone in the city where you can’t have multi-family development now,” he said.
Zoning deregulation on its own, however, does not necessarily lead to a rush of new construction or automatically help the problem.
Few people have the cash on hand to build another home on their property, and in other states that have deregulated ADUs, wealthier homeowners have taken the opportunity to build short-term vacation rentals instead of actual housing.
The federal government recently altered mortgage laws to allow people to more easily obtain loans to build mother-in-law houses. But the process can be complex.
Meanwhile, Wyoming residents accustomed to the status quo in their communities do not always welcome denser housing.
In Jackson, which has been dealing with a lack of affordable housing far longer than the rest of the state, a proposed multifamily development met strong “not in my backyard” resistance from locals, said Clare Stumpf, of ShelterJH. A proposal for 25 units was whittled down to 16 because of NIMBY pushback.
In Laramie, a proposed apartment complex was completely canned when residents complained that it would decrease downtown parking.
Still, Harrington believes the zoning changes will lead to more affordable housing … eventually. He’s glad Laramie is taking action, but results will play out over the next 10 to 15 years.
“Patience is hard,” he said.
Building hotels, not houses
The city of Jackson recently took a step—albeit temporary—to slow down commercial development that is eating up available space for housing.
Ninety-seven percent of Teton County is protected open space, and it is among the most expensive places to live in America.
Stumpf, of ShelterJH, said her organization began partly in response to hotel developer forcing residents out of a mobile home community. It has since worked to slow the “onslaught” of hotel development in the tourist town.
In June, grassroots opposition to a proposed 300,000 square foot hotel in north Jackson helped convince city council to enact a temporary moratorium on commercial development, citing housing concerns.
Stumpf said the moratorium is helpful, but the issue is far from resolved, and every battle at the local city or county level is hard fought on behalf of people who actually live in Jackson.
While most of Wyoming faces different circumstances, the housing crisis that began in Teton County now reaches every corner of the state to one degree or another. Local governments will likely be contending with similar projects and pushback.
Yearslong wait for rent assistance
Some Wyomingites who struggle to afford housing qualify for the federal “Section 8” program that helps pay for rent.
But the waiting lists are so long at this point as a result of the ongoing housing crisis that residents can wait years to enter the program.
The Cheyenne Housing Authority, which administers Section 8 in the capital city and Laramie, has a waiting list of 3,100. Stumpf says 1,400 people are on Jackson Hole’s list.
“That’s just people who filled out the application,” she says. “It’s the tip of the iceberg, but an indicator of how serious the problem is.”
Casper Housing Authority Executive Director Kim Sumerall-Wright says its Section 8 program is maxed out, and about 1,500 housing units are needed.
She says people stay in overcrowded and substandard homes, temporary homes with relatives, or in cars, tents and trailers.
No state money for housing
One of the best programs for housing in our state is run by the Wyoming Community Development Authority. Its first-time homebuyer program helps cover down payments for people purchasing their first homes, helping countless young families.
Last year, the agency requested $100 million to expand the program in response to the state’s intensifying housing crisis.
In his budget, Gov. Mark Gordon cut the amount to $25 million, and then the Legislature rejected the entire request.
This is typical for the Wyoming Legislature, which has traditionally refused to spend any money to solve housing-related problems in the state.
In 2023, some lawmakers proposed creating a $15 million state housing trust fund. Wyoming is one of only two states without such a resource. In other states, housing trust funds support construction, acquisition and preservation of affordable housing.
But lawmakers argued that Wyoming has too many trust funds already—they are a tool the Legislature uses to ensure continuous funding of projects even during the state’s busts.
So they killed the bill, and then did nothing else to help housing.