Trust Montana

Building livable communities by preserving land and homes people can afford

Projects

Trust Montana currently stewards 27 permanently affordable properties in six communities across the state.

In partnership with community groups and municipalities, we are working to bring at least 50 additional permanently affordable homes into our program over the next three years. We are currently working on projects in Red Lodge, Deer Lodge, Lockwood, Roberts, Helena, and East Missoula.  

Montana Street Homes in Missoula – a project built by Homeword and stewarded by Trust Montana

Trust Montana excels at administering legal mechanisms that restrict the resale price of homes. We don’t build homes – we partner with builders, non profits, and municipalities to bring homes to market. It’s our job to ensure affordable homes remain affordable from one buyer to the next.  

How our housing partnerships work:

  • Trust Montana holds title to land for the benefit of a community and seeks out funding to subsidize the property for homeowners.
  • A non profit or private builder constructs homes on the land.
  • Income-qualified homebuyers purchase the buildings at below-market prices thanks to the subsidy that has been invested in the land and buildings.
  • At closing, (after reviewing the ground lease with independent legal counsel) the homebuyers sign long term ground leases with Trust Montana to ensure the home will always be re-sold at an affordable price in the future.
  • Trust Montana stewards the properties, and oversees each resale to ensure the buildings are always re-sold at an affordable price. 

Once a property is in the Trust Montana program, our staff provides support to the homeowners and coordinates resales of the homes to ensure they are always affordable. Our projects are designed and implemented in partnership with Montana communities.

Projects:

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.

Helena Area Habitat volunteers working to construct one of the homes in the Spires neighborhood, Red Lodge, MT

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 helps low-income buyers purchase a home on the market, providing up to $90,000 in subsidy, and transfers the land under the home into the land trust program – ensuring the home will remain affordable in perpetuity.

In 2024, Trust Montana is expanding this program to other areas of the state with a goal to partner 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 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.