HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte last week signed a pro-housing bill to streamline and improve local subdivision review in Montana, delivering on a recommendation of his bipartisan Housing Task Force.

“For too long, burdensome regulations have constricted housing supply, driven up prices, and made buying a home out of reach for Montanans,” Gov. Gianforte said. “To increase the supply of affordable workforce housing, we’re cutting red tape and removing unnecessary roadblocks to home ownership.”

Sponsored by Rep. Larry Brewster, R-Billings, House Bill 211 expedites the subdivision review process by cutting red tape for applicants and local governments.

Regulations at every level of government drive up the price of newly built homes. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimated in 2021 that the average cost of regulation in the price of a new home soared by 44 percent in the last decade, from $65,224 in 2011 to $93,870 in 2021. NAHB also reported that government-imposed regulations account for 23.8 percent of the final price of a new single-family home built for sale.

Last session, Gov. Gianforte signed into law Senate Bill 161, a bill that expedited subdivision review, removing unpredictable, costly, and time-consuming procedural hurdles to homebuilding.

Streamlining subdivision review to increase the supply of affordable workforce housing is a top priority and recommendation from the governor’s Housing Task Force.