Five apartment projects in Billings, Butte, Columbia Falls, Havre and Missoula will share $40,326,720 in federal housing tax credits, the Montana Board of Housing decided at its Oct. 20 meeting. Together they would add 136 rent-restricted homes, and three of the five are built for seniors.
The Department of Commerce announced the awards the next day. The credits are the competitive 9% kind, the most valuable form of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and Montana receives only a limited amount each year. Developers sell the credits to investors, and the cash raised pays for a large share of construction, which keeps rents within reach of lower-income tenants for decades.
“Selecting projects to receive Housing Credit awards is the most difficult decision board members are tasked with each year, and this year was no exception,” board chair Bruce Posey said in the department’s release.
Here is where the money is going, according to the board’s list of awarded projects:
Franklin Crossing, Missoula. $8.5 million for 30 homes for families and individuals, developed by United Housing Partners with the Missoula Housing Authority. The project is also applying for tax-exempt bonds paired with the separate 4% credit, which would finance another 181 homes at the site.
Glacier View Senior, Columbia Falls. $8.5 million for 29 senior apartments, from Housing Solutions.
Granite Peak Apartments, Butte. $6,326,720 for 24 senior apartments, developed by Thomas Development with Markovich. Like Franklin Crossing, it is seeking bond financing that would add 24 more homes.
Majestic Landing, Billings. $8.5 million for 24 homes for families and individuals, with a preference for veterans and their families. The development by CR Builders and Homefront is planned at 1730 Majestic Lane on the West End, next to the Billings VA clinic.
Mountain Goat Court, Havre. $8.5 million for 29 senior apartments, from Echo Enterprises and District IV Human Resources Development Council.
Who didn’t make the cut
Demand for the credits outran supply again. Homes on the Range in Roundup and Tumbleweed Court in Deer Lodge applied and were not funded, and a Libby Plaza application was ruled ineligible, according to the board’s award summary. Unfunded projects can reapply in a later round.
Posey said the board was pleased to back three projects “dedicated to providing safe, affordable and accessible homes for Montana seniors in Butte, Columbia Falls and Havre,” while Franklin Crossing serves Missoula families and Majestic Landing will prioritize veterans who need supportive services.
Commerce Director Marta Bertoglio said the projects would “create an estimated 343 jobs and more than $22 million in local wages.” Those figures are the department’s estimates for construction and related work, not permanent positions.
What happens next
An award is not a groundbreaking. Each developer still has to close on its investor financing, finish design and permitting, and in the bond-financed cases win a separate approval from the board for the conduit bonds. Projects in this round are funded from the state’s 2027 credit allocation, and construction timelines typically run a year or more once financing closes.
For the communities involved, the gains are concrete. Havre and Columbia Falls are small markets where a single 29-unit senior building is a meaningful share of the rental supply. In Missoula, Franklin Crossing’s two-part financing could make it one of the larger affordable developments in the city’s recent history if the bond-financed phase goes forward.
The next competitive round is already scheduled. For the 2028 credits, the board’s housing credit program takes pre-applications on the first Monday in April, with full applications due the first Monday in August.