The Wyoming legislature’s Corporations, Elections and Political Entities Committee voted on Monday 8-6 in favor of a bill that could remove local communities’ right to require developers to mitigate their impacts via housing requirements. That bill would deal a crippling blow to Teton County’s efforts to assure affordable housing for the community’s workforce. In one of the letters taken to the committee’s meeting in Cheyenne, Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr wrote, “Nearly half of the workforce commutes into the valley everyday because of the lack of affordable housing in the community. Uncoincidentally, half of my dispatch positions are currently unfilled.” House Bill 277 will now vie for a position on the full legislature’s agenda, requiring a 2/3 approval of the House to be placed there during a budget session.
