April Norton became the joint town and county housing director when she was 34 and pregnant with her second child. A decade later, as that son now enters the fourth grade, Norton has decided to step away. Over that time, housing prices have boomed in destination Jackson Hole, making it hard for workers to find a place to live. In 2026, Jackson maintained its status as the third most expensive home market in the U.S., according to loan aggregator LendingTree.
Norton’s departure also comes as the Housing Manager Stacy Stoker retires after joining the department in 2004. She says her replacement should face what could be a daunting challenge with optimism. She is credited with helping shepherd 241 new affordable homes for nearly 700 community members. The town and county will launch a national search for her replacement.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. — Ed.
Evan Robinson-Johnson: Did you see the number that the county tallied in terms of the actual count of homes that you’ve been able to create?
April Norton: Yes, 241. Those are new homes that were built through public-private partnerships. And then 675 people housed in just those homes. I looked at that, and it was really humbling because that’s not just me. That’s like so many people, so many partners across the valley. And it’s really great. I’m proud of it.
ERJ: There’s also no way you can predict that, too, when you’re starting in 2016 and be like, ‘Alright, we’re going to have 200 homes.’
AN: No, we were basically building the program from the ground up. [The town and county] had really just sort of dismantled what had been. And we were creating something new. I remember coming in. I was pregnant with my son. I was 34. I was really sick every day with both of my children. But I would puke every day in the bathroom. It is super humbling to look back and see all the successes. Gosh, there are a lot of scars and scar tissue from all of that work and a lot of things that we’ve learned. And again, I hope that we’re able to sort of share those lessons learned with the next folks.
ERJ: It would have been nice, obviously, to go out on the high of having [deed-restricted housing at] the Virginian finally decided and moving forward. And I’m sure now it’s kind of like, ‘Well, would I wait until northern South Park happens?’ That would be five more years of your life.
AN: When the town and county purchased 90 Virginian Lane, I at the time went for a walk and told one of my bosses, the town manager, ‘I promise you that I will see the Virginian to a place where I can hand it off.’ Because at that point, I thought, I was going to be in this job for five years. It had been seven years. But in the back of my mind, I always kind of thought I’d be able to downshift a little when my daughter went to middle school. She’s a seventh grader, and I’m maybe a year behind where I thought I would be. But, I made this promise that I would try and get the Virginian to a place where I could pass it off. And for better or worse, it is at a place where I can pass it off.
ERJ: There was a meeting, I don’t think it had anything to do with the outcome of the Virginian, but I just remember, you walking out in tears and some of that’s just because it’s personal, or it can feel personal.
AN: It feels personal. It’s every late night. It’s every weekend that you miss with your kids, with your family, with your friends. I look at my elected officials and I’m in support of what they’ve told us they want to do.
Being in meetings and hearing them then tell you to do something else, or that they’ve changed their mind, it can be very discouraging. I recognized over the last several months that I was at a point where I was maybe done with that. That’s not a negative reflection of the town or the county. It’s just me knowing when it was time for me to go.
The housing manager is leaving, Stacey Stoker, and she’s been with the housing department and housing authority for 20-plus years.
She is an institution and an incredible colleague and incredible person. That’s a huge loss for the institution itself and institutional memory. Her last day is at the end of October, and I am more nervous about her departure than I am my own. I mean, I think they’ll hire somebody to take my position; it will be fine, but she does the day-to-day. She is really in the trenches with our team, and so her departure — I’m excited for her, she deserves it, and she’s retiring, and she has given so much to this community — but I’m nervous about who we’re gonna hire in that position, because it is a big job.
ERJ: I didn’t realize that, so it really is a changing of the guard.
AN: Yeah, it is. Again, what a great opportunity for somebody to come in and sort of reshape things the way they want it. I’ll try not to be offended by the things that they change because it’s probably going to be for the best. But I do think the timing is really good in some ways.
ERJ: Is there a community that does [affordable housing] best that you’ve seen? Does Bozeman have it figured out?
AN: [Laughs]. No, no one has it figured out. If somebody had figured it out, we’d all be copying them, right? And every community has their own unique challenges and opportunities. It’s different everywhere. And I think there are a lot of ways Jackson is seen as being on the bleeding edge. We’ve done a lot of really cool stuff that people are trying to learn from. And we should be proud of that.
ERJ: Has any of the recent criticism about your proximity to Pennrose on the 90 Virginian project, or the frustration — it’s not even just you, it was frustration with electeds and just the whole way that went down — has the pressure around that aid in your decision-making to step away now?
AN: No, I had, in all honesty, already made my decision that I was near the end of my time. That’s some of the noise that I talk about. That is people who are maybe really well-intentioned but come in sort of half-baked and may not know all the details.
ERJ: Yeah. It sounds like it was ultimately a far more personal reason in some ways. Is there anything else that’s just illustrative of what this decade has been like for you? It could be a specific housing project, or it could just be a moment. If you started puking, was there an arc to where you ended up?
AN: It is just hearing stories from people who have moved into these developments. When I bike by Jackson Street Apartments on my way home and see the kids waiting for the bus in the mornings. They’re out playing in the grassy area. It just makes you feel good. You just smile.
Yes, our community is changing. The wealth disparity is real; it is hard, but there are a lot of really, really amazing people working to continue to support this community.
Just, over the weekend, [I was] getting texts from people and just reflecting on getting the opportunity to work with those folks was so humbling and amazing. And I’ve learned so much from all of them in the housing space, but just in the human space too, that I’ll carry with me forever. I mean, really, it’s been such a gift.
