Tranel talks housing crunch during roundtable in Kalispell

Flathead Valley housing advocates argued Wednesday that a countywide housing authority is needed to mitigate the lack of affordable housing in the region.

The call for a county-level housing entity was made during a roundtable discussion with Monica Tranel, a Democrat running to represent Montana’s 1st Congressional District, featuring municipal officials, nonprofit leaders and business community representatives in Kalispell. 

“I think one challenge that we have in the Flathead is that we don’t have an overarching housing organization,” said Danielle Maiden, cooperative housing director for NeighborWorks Montana. “We have all the people at this table doing different aspects of housing but we do not have a housing authority for the whole county.”