Morisaki tackles Flathead housing crunch with business expertise

Kim Morisaki recently sold a home in Kalispell for the astonishingly low price of $111,000.

As the new executive director of the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust, Morisaki is on a mission to help solve the Flathead Valley's shortage of affordable housing. It's a problem she became passionate about in her previous role assisting local businesses at Montana West Economic Development.

"I would go out and talk to people, and the workforce was a huge challenge for everybody. People couldn't move here because they couldn't find a house, or their day care was not dependable. Again and again and again I heard that," Morisaki said. "So it became very apparent to me that housing was restricting this valley's ability to continue to thrive."

The Northwest Montana Community Land Trust was established in 2009 — in the wake of the last recession that sent millions of homes into foreclosure — with an innovative model that involves splitting up ownership of houses and the land underneath them.

The nonprofit has an inventory of 52 residential properties throughout Kalispell and sells the homes to low- and moderate-income families, while maintaining ownership of the land.

Homeowners pay a mortgage on the house as well as a $25-a-month ground lease. And when they're ready to move, they sell the house back to the trust, capturing their initial investment plus 25% of the increase in appraised value since the time of their purchase.

The trust then resells the houses for no more than 25% of the increase in appraised value, ensuring they remain affordable in perpetuity. The trust sometimes adds to the price of a home to cover the cost of basic maintenance and upgrades, such as replacing worn carpet.

While Zillow estimates a "typical" home in Kalispell is going for nearly $488,000, Morisaki said the land trust currently has homes available for around half that price. There's a waiting list, however, and it only keeps growing.

Morisaki said the waiting list recently doubled to about 25 applicants, which is why she encourages people to apply early, even if they're a couple of years out from purchasing a home. Buyers must qualify for a mortgage and meet income eligibility requirements by showing tax returns and pay stubs.

BORN AND raised in Kalispell, Morisaki graduated from Flathead High School in 1987 and then pursued her bachelor's degree at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California, returning to the valley each summer to intern at the former Flathead Economic Development Corp.

"At the time, we had a bunch of Japanese people visit here who were part of Montana's sister state," she recalled. "They were from Kumamoto, and one of my jobs in the summer was to tour them all around the valley. And they said, 'Hey you should come teach English in Japan, in Kumamoto.' And so I did, even though I knew nothing about teaching English."

She moved to Japan in 1991, thinking she would spend a short stint teaching. But she ended up staying there for 11 years, marrying her husband and starting her own import business at the age of 27.

After returning to Kalispell in 2002, Morisaki worked for a door manufacturer and another local business before starting at Montana West Economic Development, where she spent nearly 13 years, most recently as director of business development and marketing.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and in May 2020 she left MWED to focus on her small consulting business. She wrote a few successful grant applications — including one for a stormwater project in Columbia Falls and one for the construction of new sidewalks in Evergreen — before learning that the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust needed a new director.

For Morisaki, it seemed like the stars aligned, and she finally had an opportunity to tackle the housing crisis she had constantly heard about from local businesses. She started in July as the trust's only paid employee, working in conjunction with a nonprofit board and NeighborWorks Montana.

THE LAND trust got its start in 2009 with about $3 million in funding from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which aimed to take houses off the exploding foreclosure market and return them to families who needed them, Morisaki said. The trust used that money to purchase 52 homes in Kalispell, but in the past 12 years, it has never expanded its inventory.

Morisaki wants to change that, as demand for housing in the valley continues to outpace supply and businesses feel the effects in the form of staffing shortages. She's working to spread the word about the land trust and its innovative model throughout Northwest Montana, including in Columbia Falls and Polson.

According to the nonprofit Grounded Solutions Network, there are now more than 225 community land trusts across the United States. But Morisaki said many public officials and current and prospective homeowners aren't aware of the work they do.

She's seeking state, federal and private funds that she can use to purchase more homes for the trust's inventory, and she wants to hear from current homeowners and estate planners interested in selling their homes to the trust at a discount.

"The difference between what the house is worth and what they sold it to us for would be a charitable donation," she said, "so they can use it as a tax writeoff."

If there are any downsides to the land trust's model, Morisaki said, she's hard-pressed to think of any.

"We're a nonprofit, but the property taxes on both the land and the house are still getting paid. It's a onetime investment that makes the house affordable in perpetuity," she said, adding that the homes are priced for the local workforce.

"They're people who work for the hospital billing department. They're people who work for the local car dealership. They're people who work for the county health department," she said. "They're just people who make the Flathead Valley run. That's who we're selling houses to."

Assistant editor Chad Sokol may be reached at 406-758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com.