Partners break ground on another affordable housing development in Missoula
(KPAX) A trio of community partners broke ground Thursday on a new Missoula housing development intended to offer homes that all people can afford.
“We are fortunate to be part of a community that prioritizes the health of everyone and is willing to collaborate in ways that make great things happen," said Homeword executive director Andrea Davis. "That is incredibly important now as affordability has gotten to a point of crisis for many.”
The Trinity Housing Project is a collaboration between Homeword, BlueLine Development and the Missoula Housing Authority.
The project will be built on two separate sites - one on Mullan Road and one on Cooley Street. Each site will offer a variety of one, two, three and four bedroom homes, totaling 202 rental homes when complete.
It will also have a "navigation center” which will provide low-threshold, high-service programs like life skills training, medical care, criminal justice system re-entry support, and food security.
According to the Missoula Housing Authority, rent will be capped according to family size and income, so residents won’t see the escalation in the rental market many are seeing right now.
During the groundbreaking of the Mullan site on Thursday, Missoula Housing Authority Executive Director Lori Davidson said the project is housing for all.
“We envision this site being for people with incomes from zero up to as much as $61,000.” said Davidson. “Thirty of the units are for the people who have been without homes for a long time, but the other 100 units are for workforce housing, they will be for teachers and first responders and seniors.”
No local tax dollars are being used to fund the construction of the project, though the county donated around 4 acres of land to make the Mullan Road project possible. Trinity Housing has and will use a variety of sources including tax credits, grants, land donations, and local organizations and municipalities.
The Mullan site should be completed by January of 2023, and the Cooley site by November of 2022.