Council to discuss housing needs tonight
The councilors will consider the city’s housing shortage, and ways to address it, during a work session.
Laramie City Councilors will gather tonight to receive an update on local housing needs.
They’ll consider the city’s next steps in what has been a years-long push to make the process of building new houses easier and more attractive for developers.
“Housing related issues continue to be a focus for the Laramie community and the State of Wyoming,” states a staff summary previewing tonight’s work session. “In the past 10 years the City of Laramie has continued to focus on how to improve the quantity, type and quality of housing within the community.”
A recent statewide report found that Albany County will need between 2,500-3,700 new homes by the end of the decade if it’s going to keep up with demand.
The council will not vote on any new proposals.
The work session is an opportunity for city staff — likely City Manager Janine Jordan and Planning Manager Derek Teini — to provide information, field questions, and receive guidance on the types of proposals councilors want them to draft.
City staff provided a similar update in June, outlining actions the council might take to address the city’s severe housing shortage. Those possible actions included reducing fees, requirements or parking standards and pursuing public-private partnerships or offering incentives for “residential infill.”
“Adoption of the development code, online application processes, submittal schedules and establishment of the Urban Renewal Authority are just some of the steps already taken by the City,” the summary notes. “More recently code changes related to zoning, parking, setbacks, building height, ADUs and others have reduced regulatory requirements often seen to increase housing costs.”
The work session this evening will include a run-down of the various housing studies that have regularly shown Laramie is short several thousand homes.
Those studies also show Laramie lacks the right diversity of housing — including homes that qualify as “workforce attainable” or those that are priced appropriately for the “missing middle” income bracket.
They include:
The presentation will also reference the council’s stated goals, which have consistently listed addressing housing as a primary concern since at least 2022.
Housing has long been a hot topic in Laramie.
The previous council altered requirements for single-family, multi-family and downtown zones — as well as residential parking requirements — to make development more affordable or attractive.
Recognizing Laramie’s unique position as a city of renters, the council also established the City Rental Housing Code, outlining basic habitability requirements for rental units in the city. Landlords rebelled against the rental regulations and many remain out of legal compliance to this day. While landlord-led efforts to eradicate the habitability standards have stalled out, the city’s own efforts to enforce them have met roadblocks.
Since the city government’s last housing update, a new council has been seated.
The 2024 election saw the ascension of the council’s progressive wing, including three new councilors and the newly appointed mayor, who ran together as a slate while promising action on rental protections and housing affordability more generally.
The work session begins at 6 p.m. in the City Hall council chambers. The meeting will be streamed live via Zoom and the city’s official YouTube channel.
The housing work session will be followed by a separate work session regarding digital billboards.
Affordable housing in Laramie would be simple.
Repeal all building codes after 1999, or require all city staff to bring their
properties up to current code.
The summary of the item published prior to the meeting makes a very serious incorrect statement: it claims that regulatory requirements have been "reduced" when in fact regulation has run rampant. The stifling regulations, which have discouraged investment and development, include restrictions, fees, and burdensome licensing requirements on rental housing and severe regulation of contractors. These have made repairs, improvements, and new construction difficult and often financially infeasible. If I personally were not already in the rental property business in Laramie, I would not invest now. If I were seeking to build, I would not build within the City limits if it were possible to avoid it. As "Laramiga_7220" says below, we need less talk and more action: we need to create a business and regulatory environment conducive to development of, and investment in, quality, affordable housing.