This project was completed in 2019 in partnership with Homeword, the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center, and Garden City Harvest. Homeword developed the small homes with efficiency in mind, ensuring they fit respectfully into the existing neighborhood. Garden City Harvest developed a community garden which is now managed by the Food Bank, providing fresh food and gardening experience for community members. The title to the land is held by Trust Montana and 6 income qualified homeowners lease the land under their homes via renewable, inheritable 75-year ground leases. The 450 sf one-bedroom home sold for $98,000 and the 550 sf two-bedroom homes sold for $120,000. Homes were sold to households earning 80% or less of the Area Median Income (for example, $41,100 for one person or $58,650 for a family of 4).

In 2019, Trust Montana and HFHGV partnered to create the first CLT- preserved, Habitat-built homes in the state. These homes in Belgrade, Bozeman, and Livingston were built using sweat equity, with federal funds invested in some of the homes to bring the home prices down. Habitat for Humanity partners with Trust Montana to ensure the subsidies they invested in their building projects are not lost each time a home changes hands. The partnership has created a replicable model for Habitat affiliates and CLTs, providing a road map for leveraging the limited housing subsidy available in Montana. This partnership will enable more people to access homeownership over the next few decades.

Trust Montana partnered with the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation in 2017 to bring the first CLT home to Red Lodge, utilizing local subsidy dollars, a modular home, and donated land. In a continuation of the partnership, Helena Area Habitat for Humanity was brought into the fold in 2019 to create the first permanently affordable USDA Mutual Self Help Program homes in the state. There are now 10 completed Mutual Self Help homes in Red Lodge, and four rental homes, which Trust Montana stewards in partnership with the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation.

In 2020, Trust Montana partnered with Missoula County to design a new buyer-initiated down payment pilot program. Using HUD funding and private donations, Trust Montana helped a low-income buyer purchase a home on the market, providing up to $100,000 in subsidy, and transferred the land under the home into the land trust program – ensuring the home will remain affordable in perpetuity.

In 2025, Trust Montana is expanding this program to other areas of the state by partnering with private builders to acquire newly-built homes. We are now working with a developer partner in Deer Lodge to make homes affordable at Beaumont Place. Trust Montana was awarded a $350,000 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce to create the program.

If your community is interested in bringing this down payment program to your area, reach out to Stewardship and Projects Coordinator, Bill Henry: Bill@trustmontanaCLT.org

Trust Montana and Missoula Habitat for Humanity have partnered over the past few years to ensure nine new homes in East Missoula will be permanently affordable. Thanks to sweat equity and volunteer labor, the partner families enjoy low mortgage payments. The land is conveyed to Trust Montana before each home sells in order to lock the subsidy dollars into the home and ensure multiple generations of buyers can afford the homes and earn limited equity.