Kalispell awarded $4.78M for affordable housing

Kalispell is one of four Montana communities to receive federal housing tax credits for affordable housing, the Montana Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.

Kalispell’s Junegrass Place will receive $4,780,000 to build 24 new homes for families and individuals. This project is also leveraging non-competitive private activity bonds to construct an additional 114 units.

In total, $22.6 million is being awarded to build or preserve 246 total affordable homes across the four communities.

In addition to the Kalispell project, Bicentennial Apartments in Dillon, Baatz Apartments in Great Falls and Tapestry Apartments in Billings are all receiving allocations of the federal tax credits.

This year, developers reportedly submitted housing tax credit applications for eight distinct projects requesting more than $46.5 million to build or rehabilitate homes.

Federal housing tax credits allow developers to borrow less money for construction and pass those savings along to families and individuals through lower rent.

The Montana Board of Housing also passed a resolution to move over $6.1 million in remaining federal housing tax credits to a subsequent board meeting. It is anticipated the Board will consider awards or allocations to projects not awarded credits at Monday’s meeting, or to one or more projects previously awarded credits but not yet placed in service at the Nov. 15, 2021 meeting.

The Montana Board of Housing is part of the Montana Department of Commerce. Federal housing tax credits flow through the state agency and fund the construction or rehabilitation of about 230 homes each year. This supports the creation of an estimated 520 jobs, about $23 million in local wages, and more than $2 million in new taxes and revenues for local governments.