Viewpoint: When will the Legislature invest in affordable housing?

Nevin Graves

Our state government promised this session would be about housing. Young people are getting priced out of their hometowns, and new Montana families can't find anywhere to put down roots.

Everyone knows we need more housing, and we all hoped the Legislature would keep its promise and invest in affordable housing for Montana. As we draw to the final days of the legislative session, they have failed and then some.

Senate Bill 523 brought by Polson's Greg Hertz, proposes that the absence of state subsidy for affordable housing is not injury enough to the people of Montana; it strips away millions of dollars in local subsidy and endangers millions more from the federal government to build the homes we need.

Those of us who work with families struggling to enter homeownership need more resources, not less. The craven lies and insulting remarks of failed alderman Jesse Ramos at the hearing for SB 523 reflect his callous ignorance of our housing crisis: "nobody said anything about affordable housing" in how local dollars can be spent to help our communities.

This is not just a Missoula or Bozeman problem. Every city, town, and village from Great Falls to Corvallis has voiced their frustrations that the Legislature and their lackeys would so recklessly toss out the limited resources we have at the local level to build affordable housing.

Every politician Montana elected last year had housing on their lips, and our Missoula delegation has held the supermajority to account for their empty words. Senator Greg Hertz and his billionaire-funded lobbyists need to stop telling Montana towns how NOT to build homes for our neighbors.

Give the good Senator and the House Taxation Committee a call, and kindly let them know to keep their hands off our local dollars.