Big Sky Community Housing Trust
We provide affordable and stable homes for residents living in Big Sky, Montana.
Current Housing Opportunities
Big Sky Community Housing Trust takes a multi-pronged approach to creating homes for Big Sky’s residents.
RiverView Apartments
RiverView Apartments is a collaboration to build a new apartment complex located along Highway 64 by Ace Hardware. The Housing Trust’s portion of the project is on track for residents to move in during June. The formal application process will begin at the end of April.
Rent Local
The Rent Local program serves as a bridge between local workers and homeowners seeking long-term tenants. By facilitating connections, the program helps locals find homes and owners generate consistent income while contributing to the economic health of our community.
Homeownership
Please join the homeownership waitlist if you work full-time in Big Sky and wish to purchase a home. BSCHT will use this waitlist to resell MeadowView Condos, provide new ownership opportunities through Good Deeds, and sell future developments like Yellowtail Residences.
Good Deeds Program
Reclaiming existing homes for locals
Good Deeds assists local buyers by paying up to 20% of a property’s appraised value in exchange for a permanent deed restriction. The restriction requires one occupant to work full-time in Big Sky and strictly bans short-term rentals. The funds provided by Good Deeds are not loans, and the restrictions transfer with ownership in perpetuity.
Why do Big Sky locals need homes?
We believe that everyone deserves a safe, stable place to call home. Unfortunately, many essential members of our community struggle to meet this basic need due to high demand and soaring real estate prices.
Since at least 2020, Big Sky has maintained a 0% long-term rental vacancy rate, impacting residents across all income levels, like Montana teachers struggling with the lowest starting salaries in the country.
Simultaneously, the cost of purchasing a median-priced condo in Big Sky has exceeded $1 million for several years; even doctors need a subsidy to buy basic housing.
%
From $960,000 in 2019 to $2,450,000 in 2022
(thru Aug. 1)
%
From $429,225 in 2019 to $1,182,500 in 2022
(thru Aug. 1)
How We Create Affordable Homes
According to our 2023 Needs Assessment Update, Big Sky needs 1,354 homes by 2028. One key tactic involves recapturing existing inventory through programs like Rent Local and Good Deeds. This strategy provides immediate inventory.
However, even if Housing Trust programs converted most of Big Sky’s 1,000+ vacation rentals into community housing, the expected demand due to job growth will still outstrip the existing inventory. Because of this, we will continue to build additional affordable homes like MeadowView Condos and RiverView Apartments.
In our four-year history as an independent nonprofit, we have reclaimed and constructed:
