For a long time, Hunter and Sarah thought that their life in Bozeman had an expiration date. They were working, contributing members of the community – but like so many local families, the cost of housing made it hard to imagine a future in the Gallatin Valley.
“Our future in Bozeman wasn’t looking super bright,” Hunter says. “We definitely felt like this is a place we want to stay, but we didn’t see a viable future here – not only because of housing prices, but the housing options themselves.”
They were renting. Their situation wasn’t dire, but it wasn’t stable, either. Each year, the rent went up.
“That was another major aspect of our rental situation,” Hunter explains. “The yearly increases – and not seeing any of that come back to the property – knowing that was just making someone else’s pocket bigger. That was really tough.”
Staying in Bozeman felt increasingly out of reach for Hunter and his community alike.
“We have friends that were not able to stay in Bozeman,” he says. “They ended up moving to another state because they weren’t able to find a home they could realistically afford.”
Then, in May of 2023, Hunter and Sarah had an opportunity to purchase a permanently affordable Headwaters home.
“The lottery opened up, [and] we pulled the winning number to put an offer on the house,” Hunter remembers. “If I could physically feel roots going into the ground, that’s the moment that that happened.”
Instead of paying rent that increased every year, Hunter and Sarah began putting that same monthly payment toward a mortgage.
“The opportunity to shift our monthly expense from a rent payment to a mortgage payment was so empowering,” Hunter says. “Every single month, that principal goes down, that’s going into the equity of the home.”
The night they got their keys, Hunter and Sarah moved boxes back and forth until nearly midnight.
“It was pure chaos,” he laughs. “But it was that feeling of this is ours. Our life is in this house now.”
For the first time, their housing costs were predictable, and that stability reached beyond the walls of their home allowing them to take the career advancement opportunities within the Bozeman community.
“It would have been a completely different situation,”
Hunter reflects, thinking about what life would have looked like without their Headwaters home.
Hunter’s home is stewarded by Headwaters’ Community Housing Trust, meaning they aren’t the only household that will get the opportunity to remain in Bozeman. One day, when it comes time for Hunter and Sarah to move on, another local household will get to feel those same roots take hold.
Hunter now serves on the Headwaters board because he knows what it means to be given stability and opportunity of affordable home ownership.
“Being afforded this opportunity made me really want to give back and hope that my efforts could further that opportunity for others as well. “
