Housing Assessment Report
As noted on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund webpage, each year City staff produce a report tracking housing indicators, population statistics, and market information to guide annual priorities for funding. The Affordable Housing Resident Oversight Committee (AHROC) uses the Annual Housing Assessment Report to set annual priorities for Trust Fund disbursements. The report also includes information about outcomes achieved in the prior year through Trust Fund investments.
Based on the information, feedback, and data collected through the Housing Assessment Report and Community Needs Assessment, AHROC then produces the Annual Allocation Plan, setting goals for the upcoming fiscal year for Trust Fund investments.
Key findings form the 2025 Housing Assessment Report (prepared with Root Policy Research) include:
- Missoula County has experienced continued population growth since 2000; the county's population is projected to increase from approx.122,000 in 2023 to an estimated 145,700 people by 2050.
- Between 2019 and 2023, individual poverty rates decreased in the City of Missoula from 17% to 12%.
- At the median, renter income did not keep pace with rising rental costs between 2019 and 2023; as such, rental affordability challenges persist in Missoula.
- A rental gaps analysis shows a rental affordability gap of 2,902 units priced below $625 (affordable to households earning less then $25,000). This is down from the 2019 gap of 4,930 units but needs persist, especially among lower-income renters.
- A for-sale gaps analysis shows a growing purchase affordability gap and an acute affordability mismatch impacting renter households earning between $35,000 and $75,000 per year.