Support Housing Whitefish this Great Fish Community Challenge
Why Support Housing Whitefish?
For us it’s pretty simple: we believe Whitefish will be stronger when our local workforce can live here and invest their time, talents, and passions into the community.
A 2022 survey administered by the Whitefish School District, City of Whitefish, Logan Health Whitefish, and the Whitefish Christian Academy indicated that 31% of employees that responded were cost burdened (paying more than 30% of their income towards housing expenses) and another 26.5% of their employees were severely cost burdened (paying more than 50% of their income towards housing expenses). We think this is a critical problem for our community.
We conserve community for those that want to live, work, and play in our community but can’t afford to call it home.
In a recent survey completed by Housing Whitefish and the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, 95% of business managers and owners that responded indicated that the availability of housing that is affordable to local workers is the most critical problem or one of the more serious problems in the area. Our goal is to assist these local workers find affordable housing opportunities.
Over 60% of respondents in the same survey said they either had an employee leave or a prospective employee turn down a job due to the lack of adequate housing and high costs of living. At Housing Whitefish we are looking toward the future and working to develop appropriate housing for our community’s workforce.
Our Big Projects
We are committed to increasing community housing options in Whitefish for those that contribute to our quality of life. We’re currently working on:
Alpenglow Phase II: Building rental units for low to moderate income earners (likely between 60-120% of the area median income)
Whitefish Workforce Assistance Fund: Rental assistance program for our local workforce.
How Will the Funds Raised in the Great Fish Community Challenge be Used?
Flexible Core & Project Support.
FY24 is our second full fiscal year as an organization. For our organization to maintain our current capacity and set ourselves up for growth, we need to have flexible operating funds to allow our staff to develop our projects and programs, to build trust and deepen relationships with local stakeholders, and to continue establishing our organization as a trusted partner in the community. Your support provides the foundation for our organization to build upon.