Housing Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning

Denali Borough is facing a range of housing challenges including limited supply, seasonal workforce fluctuations, aging infrastructure, and barriers to development readiness. These issues are widespread, affecting communities across the borough such as Anderson, Healy, McKinley Village, Cantwell, and several smaller unincorporated communities and subdivisions. Although the borough benefits from significant land assets and a strong sense of place, persistent constraints (such as infrastructure gaps, land and title complexities, high construction costs, and workforce shortages) continue to hinder housing development and undermine long-term community stability.

In response, Denali Borough proactively engaged Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) for technical assistance to better understand these challenges and identify practical, community-aligned solutions. With support from HUD’s Rural Capacity Building grant, MHP is providing targeted assistance that includes a comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment, tailored community engagement strategies, and feasibility support for priority housing initiatives. These efforts aim to move the borough from problem identification toward actionable strategies that enhance housing stability and long-term resilience.

Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) works with communities across the country to identify housing challenges and create actionable solutions that strengthen local economies and improve quality of life. They bring technical expertise in research, planning, and housing development strategies, while ensuring that community voices and local leadership guide the work. Their role is to support communities in defining their housing needs, aligning resources, and developing concrete action plans that can be implemented in the near- and long-term. 

As an early step in this engagement, MHP facilitated a housing workshop on November 12, 2025 in Healy. The workshop brought together a diverse group of stakeholders from across the borough. Participants included representatives from local government, major employers, community leaders, and sectors connected to housing, workforce, and infrastructure development. The workshop served as a structured exercise to identify the key forces shaping the local housing system, both the drivers that support progress and the barriers that impede it. The result was a clear, shared picture of current conditions across Denali communities, helping local leaders and partners name high-leverage opportunities for strategic intervention. Read the summary of finding here.

The following overview outlines the expected phases of MHP’s technical assistance engagement with Denali Borough. This is intended to serve as a flexible guide, rather than a fixed schedule, and activities may overlap or adjust based on community priorities, readiness, and funding opportunities. The overall engagement spans from December 2025 through December 2027.