He said MEP has applied for a $27,000 state grant to do a feasibility study on the state of the workforce. He also explained that a lack of housing stock for entry-level homebuyers is hampering businesses’ ability to attract and retain workers.

“We can’t attract workforce into our community if they don’t have a place to live,” Grunke said. “You have to do these parallel to each other.”

Grunke said a collaboration between the Missoula Organization of Realtors, the city, the county and local developers is studying how to solve the problem.

A lot of people hear about how there are 4,000 entitled lots in Missoula County that people could build on, but the fact remains that those lots aren’t getting built on for various reasons, he said.

“There clearly is demand, and there must be supply, so we need to address that,” he said.

The MEP is focused on attracting businesses with high growth potential such as those in the manufacturing, lifestyle sciences and tech sectors. They are also focused on increasing the air service to Missoula, and next year they’ll apply for federal funding to try to entice a direct American Airlines flight from Dallas to Missoula.