MTPR

housing

As HRDC Collects Public Input, Affordable Housing Projects Move Forward

By • Jul 18, 2019

A non-profit organization that serves more than 12,000 people in southwest Montana is updating its community needs assessment. It helps determine which projects get the green light and affects how millions of dollars are allocated. Communities across Park, Gallatin and Meagher Counties identified affordable housing as one of the top priorities in the last assessment three years ago.

City Of Whitefish Sued Over Affordable Housing Policy

By • Jul 16, 2019
Downtown Whitefish, MT.
Josh Burnham / Montana Public Radio

A Flathead County land use consulting company is suing the City of Whitefish, saying it violated Montana open meeting laws when it crafted its recently implemented affordable housing policy.

$6 Million Affordable Housing Project To Open In Ronan

By • Jul 8, 2019
Monday, Lake County Community Housing and Ronan Housing Authority has received a $450,000 Montana Department of Commerce grant, the last piece of funding it needs to build a 40-unit apartment complex.
Stock Photo (PD)

A $6 million affordable housing project in Ronan is set to become a reality later this year.

Monday, Lake County Community Housing and Ronan Housing Authority received a $450,000 Montana Department of Commerce grant, the last piece of funding it needs to build a 40-unit apartment complex.

Increased Housing, Support Services For Homeless Could Lower Montana Medicaid Cost

By • Jun 20, 2019

A new report says Montana could save money on Medicaid by providing housing and support services to homeless people.

Tiny Home Village Aims To Address Homelessness, Health In Bozeman

By • Jun 4, 2019

An organization in Bozeman recently received half-a-million dollars to jumpstart Montana’s first tiny home village for people facing chronic homelessness.

Missoula Plan Aims To Boost Affordable Housing

By • May 28, 2019
(L-R) Missoula Mayor John Engen, County Commissioner Cola Rowley, County Commissioner Josh Slotnick and County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier during a press conference on affordable housing in Missoula, May 28, 2019.
Edward O'Brien / Montana Public Radio

More than 200 units of affordable housing are coming to Missoula, local officials announced Tuesday. It’s part of a big public-private collaboration involving several entities.

"This is a big deal, Missoula. This is a real big deal," says County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier.

Changes Coming To Housing Program For Former Inmates

By • Apr 15, 2019
In an effort to keep people from returning to jail and prison, the 2017 Montana Legislature approved $400,000 in funding for a pilot program to help former inmates find stable housing when they’re released.
(PD)

Misti Liberti had few available housing options when she was released from jail last fall. Liberti sometimes resorted to couchsurfing with acquaintances she knew before her jail sentence; a big  gamble for someone who has spent years battling chemical dependency.

"When I got out I was kind of at the mercy of staying with people, and you put yourself in a risky environment sometimes. You just go back to what’s familiar," she says.

Survey Shows Montana's Homeless Population Dropping

By • Apr 1, 2019
Chronic Homelessness by Region in Montana.
Courtesy Missoula Housing Authority

The first ever statewide conference on homelessness is happening in Helena today and tomorrow. More than 75 organizations from across Montana are meeting.

Jim McGrath, with the Missoula Housing Authority presented a graph showing some positive trend data about the number of homeless people here since 2005.

Whitefish Open House Will Address New Affordable Housing Program

By • Mar 13, 2019
Downtown Whitefish, MT.
Josh Burnham / Montana Public Radio

Kate Berry says owning a house in Whitefish felt like a pipedream five years ago.

"We had searched for almost a year I guess, and everything that was in our price point was still out of our price point."

Berry pieced together a livable wage working full time for a nonprofit and waitressing at night. Her partner tended bar and rapped for a popular local band. But even together they couldn’t quite pull in enough for a down payment. Rentals kept falling through, and for a while, she says she wasn’t sure how her family could live and work in the town she grew up in.

Bozeman Mayor Tells Lawmakers Affordable Housing Crisis Is Becoming An Epidemic

By Tim Pierce - UM Legislative News Service • Feb 20, 2019
Apartment complex. Stock photo.
iStock

HELENA — Bozeman Mayor Cyndy Andrus told the Senate Taxation Committee Wednesday there’s a statewide affordable housing crisis that is quickly becoming an epidemic.

Andrus supports House Bill 16, which would offer $15 million from the state’s coal trust fund as a loan to develop low and moderate-income housing across the state. She said she, along with 19 other mayors in the National League of Cities, have looked at solutions to offer low-income housing.

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