Homeowner group files court challenge against pro-construction housing laws

A lawsuit filed Friday by a coalition of homeowners challenges the constitutionality of four bipartisan laws passed by this year’s Republican-controlled Legislature in an effort to tackle Montana’s housing shortage by encouraging proactive land use planning and making it easier to build homes in situations where construction has been hampered by local zoning rules.

The Bozeman-based plaintiff group, Montanans Against Irresponsible Densification, or MAID, describes itself as a group of members who live in neighborhoods “characterized by single-family homes, attractive well-maintained yards, and quiet streets.” 

The new housing laws, the group argues in the complaint filed in Gallatin County District Court, aim to impose “top-down ‘densification’” that will force them to live in more densely populated areas with larger buildings, more traffic and “any number of other changes that spur uninterrupted development under the guise of affordable housing.”