The National Association of Home Builders and Montana Building Industry Association endorsed former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke for Montana’s first Congressional District. The Montana Building Industry Association is made up of 1,500 construction companies and allied tradesmen from across Montana.

“Quality and affordable housing is becoming an endangered species in Montana, but the answer cannot be for the government to simply spend more taxpayers’ money and build government housing,” said Ryan Zinke. “A better solution is for the government to keep compliance and regulatory costs low, do their part to streamline permitting, fix the broken supply chain, encourage education in the skilled trades, and help ensure the goal of homeownership is achievable for qualifying Montanans. Whether one rents or owns, we rely on the skilled tradesmen and small businesses in the homebuilder industry to put a roof over our head. I’m honored to have their support.”   

“The Montana Building Industry Association is happy to stand behind the NAHB and their endorsement of Ryan Zinke for election to Congress,” said Cory Shaw, Executive Director of the Montana Building Industry Association. “Ryan has continually supported our mission and we are confident that he will continue to push housing affordability as a primary focus in his initiatives. We are proud to support Ryan as he seeks to drive development and our economy and we look forward to celebrating his success.”

According to a presentation to the Montana State Legislature in October 2021 by the Pew Charitable Trust, Montana’s population “increased by 10% between 2010 and 2020, while the number of housing units in the state grew by only 7%, in part causing a shortage of homes and an increase in home prices.” Additional factors for radical increases in home prices are short term rentals, availability of materials, and inflation.

A January 2022 report by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) details housing prices rose 21.3% in Missoula, 13.1% in Billings, 12.3 % in Great Falls, and the highest spike was in “Gallatin County, where the median home price soared 30% to nearly $700,000.”

“During his time in Congress and as Interior Secretary, Ryan made housing and homeownership a top national priority and understands that working to address America’s housing affordability challenge and expanding housing opportunities for all Americans is essential to the economic and social well-being of our nation,” said NAHB Chairman Jerry Konter.