By Carrie Haderlie
The Sheridan Press
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

SHERIDAN — A grassroots effort to support the creation of a $20 million statewide housing investment fund is taking shape across Wyoming.

In July, the Wyoming Housing Investment Alliance began reaching out to people across the state, seeking signatures of support for a piece of legislation that was sponsored – but not introduced – during the 2025 General Session last winter: House Bill 272, “Investment in Wyoming Housing.”

“The passage of HB 272 would make a huge impact for affordable housing in our state, as Wyoming is one of two states that do not have any type of state housing fund for affordable housing,” Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County Executive Director Dan Dorsch, who is leading the WHIA, wrote in the July letter.

The WHIA, Dorsch explained to The Sheridan Press, is a newly reorganized effort that evolved out of the Workforce Housing Coalition, created several years ago at the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. 

Organizations like the Wyoming Association of Municipalities and the Wyoming Community Development Authority, as well as other nonprofits and city and local officials, were involved in that effort. Following the 2025 legislative session, the group decided to hyper-focus on supporting one single idea: the creation of a statewide housing investment fund.

Advocates are hoping the discussion goes further in the 2026 Budget Session beginning Feb. 9 than it did last year.

“There were several housing-related bills last session that never made it into a committee, and we decided to shift our focus from housing and affordable housing in general across the state, to (being) very focused on HB 272,” Dorsch said.

“All the bills from last session would help move housing forward, but having an investment fund for affordable housing in Wyoming would be a huge step,” he said.

At the time it was introduced, bill sponsor Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, said that housing was the number one issue she heard going door-to-door in her community.

“Parents hate to see their children move out of state for better housing markets, while young families who do want to stay can’t afford a starter home and end up spending an exorbitant amount of their income on housing,” Sherwood said.

Co-sponsor Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne, said that leaders talk a lot about economic development and diversifying Wyoming’s economy, but to do so, the state needs a workforce.

“In order to have that workforce, we have to have affordable housing. We can not keep our children here or attract new families if we don’t have the infrastructure. Affordable housing is part of that infrastructure needed for our communities and state to thrive,” Brennan said.

Creation of a statewide housing investment fund is among recommendations by the WCDA to meet an increasing need for housing across the state. While the fund would not completely fix Wyoming’s housing shortage, Dorsch said, it could make a significant difference.

“Affordable housing is a puzzle that multiple pieces need to come together to move the needle,” Dorsch. “Is (an investment fund) the only thing that would solve it? No. But will it be a big and very beneficial step forward? We believe so.”

 

The campaign for support

 

It’s been a little over a month since the WHIA sent out its first request for signatures in support of a housing investment fund, and Dorsch said it’s going well.

“Our goal is to keep circulating (the letter of support) starting this week and into September, with hopefully having a lot of signatures by October to start sending that to legislators to say that our grassroots organization has sent the letter with a list of who supports this bill,” Dorsch said.

The letter, he added, has signatures from across the state.

“We have six or seven municipalities already represented on this letter,” he said. “We want (lawmakers) to know that there is statewide support for this bill.”

The WHIA has no preference as to whether the bill makes a comeback as a committee-sponsored piece of legislation or an individually sponsored bill, Dorsch said. However, at a recent discussion on housing related issues at the Corporations Committee, Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, directed presenters to float housing-related ideas for individually sponsored bills before the budget session begins.

“Our goal is just to keep the conversation going around housing, especially knowing we are coming up into a budget year, which makes it even harder to get something passed,” Dorsch said.

 

Last year’s effort, and how other states do it

As it was written for the 2025 General Session, HB 272 would have created a $20 million investment fund to provide funding to the WCDA for creation of financial assistance programs for nonprofits and local governments and low interest loans for developers.

Wyoming nonprofits, like Habitat for Humanity and the Wyoming Housing Network, would have been eligible for grants making up 50% of the funds, and zero interest loans, for new construction, repairs and rehabilitation, transitional housing, first time homebuyer assistance and rental voucher programs. 

The draft bill also included a provision that for-profit businesses have access to low interest revolving loan funds for new construction, repairs and rehabilitation using 45% of the funding.

As written last session, government entities and non-profits could have applied for 4% of the funds to assist with administration, planning and capacity building for housing projects, and the remaining 1% would have gone to the WCDA for administration.

In January of 2023, the Joint Appropriations Committee did create an “unmet housing needs fund” with $5 million of ARPA funds and $5 million in general budget funds which must be spent by June 30, 2026. That fund has been seen as a pilot project for how a housing investment fund could work in the future.

“There is a mechanism (to do this) but it is, how do we replicate it,” Dorsch said. “As we know, housing is not a short-term issue and needs to be addressed longterm.”

Wyoming and Mississippi are the only two states without a housing investment fund. A couple of  states, including Montana, have created funds but never allocated money to them.

“Montana created a housing fund back in 1994, but never funded it,” Dorsch said. “It is on their books as a statute, but they never put any funding behind it. We don’t want that to happen.”

Other states have funded statewide housing investment funds through creative mechanisms, including revenue streams like real estate transfer taxes and even smokeless tobacco taxes and fracking fees.

“There are a lot of different options, and I think the key is what will make sense for Wyoming to do,” Dorsch said.

WyoNAHRO, Wyoming’s Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, has a page on its website devoted to the Wyoming Housing Investment Alliance and the effort to reintroduce HB 272.