Housing authority pushes forward to provide more workforce housing after apartments open

When the Alpenglow Apartments were ready for potential renters, managers received roughly 500 applications for just 36 units.

The apartment complex on Edgewood Place just over the viaduct from downtown is owned by the Whitefish Housing Authority. The last family moved into the complex in June.

“We have a profound, critical need for homes that are affordable,” says Kate Berry, vicechair of the Whitefish Housing Authority board. “We’re about getting people into homes they can afford.”

Showing off the apartments on a recent tour, housing authority officials spoke about how important the project has been for those needing housing but also the current and future efforts they are working on to address the shortage of housing that is affordable in the community.

“We want Whitefish to be a model for how affordable housing can be in our community,” Berry said. “We don't want to become and Aspen or Vail. We want to be a place where people come to live, ski and eat in restaurants.”

Designated as low-income housing, the Alpenglow Apartments are deed-restricted as affordable designated for households earning about 60% of area median income. For an individual that works out to an income that is less than about $31,000.

The apartments project is a product of a partnership between the Whitefish Housing Authority and Homeword, a Missoula nonprofit housing developer, using a low income housing tax credit from the state Board of Housing for funding. The City of Whitefish also contributed funds to the project and it also received funding from the Montana Department of Commerce.

Years in the making, work on the Alpenglow Apartments began in August of 2019. At the time city and housing officials lauded the project as a large step in the right direction for addressing what even then was termed a crisis in regards to the lack of affordable workforce housing. At the time there were 76 affordable rental units in Whitefish with no vacancies.

But following the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent increase in the number of people moving here, the issue of finding housing, affordable and market-rate, in Whitefish has become even more dire.

The median home price in Whitefish in June was $619,000. Based upon the industry standard that affordable housing be no more than 30% of gross income, a yearly salary of about $104,000 would be needed to afford a median-priced home here, according to the housing authority.

The current area median income for Flathead County for an individual is $49,700 and for a family of four is $71,000.

In 2019, the year construction began on the apartments, the area median income was $56,182. The median home price here was $470,000 for June that year, based upon the Montana Regional MLS.

Katie Williams, who serves on the housing authority board, says while just a few years ago officials had hoped that affordable housing projects like the Alpenglow Apartments combined with private construction of market-rate units would help to provide the overall housing needed here, the situation has actually just gotten worse.

“The affordability gap is only getting bigger,” she said.

The Whitefish Housing Authority, along with its associated nonprofit Housing Whitefish, is strategizing ways to continue addressing the shortage of affordable housing. Programs already include a rehabilitation assistance program for homeowners, a rental assistance fund launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that has assisted 400 families with emergency rental payments, and 11 homes and eight rentals all deed-restricted as affordable.

Lori Collins, executive director of the housing authority, said the entity is serving low-income and elderly people, but is also looking to increase its focus on assisting those making 60% to 80% of AMI.

“We’re trying to serve a wide range of people,” Collins said. “We want to focus on those people who make $20 per hour who are young professionals and find it really difficult to find housing. We’re looking for programs to keep funding and keep going.”

The Alpenglow Apartments property includes 1 acre of land that was left undeveloped for a future phase of housing. But in the more immediate, the housing authority is turning its focus on the snow lot.

Last year, the city passed ownership to the housing authority of the snow lot, located at the corner of Railway Street and Columbia Avenue and termed as such because that’s where the city has stored plowed snow. The 2017 Whitefish Strategic Housing Plan recommended the 1.64-acre property be developed into an affordable housing project.

An initial conceptual design found that 24 single-family homes in duplex-style buildings could be feasibly constructed on the property.

Williams says the housing authority would like to see those homes become deed-restricted for purchase for those making 80% to 150% of AMI. Priority would be given to those who already live or work in Whitefish followed by those in Flathead County, she notes.

“We’re looking for people who are just starting out and who are first-time home buyers,” Williams said. “We want people who purchase the homes, build equity and then hopefully eventually they are able to sell and move up to a market-rate home. We want people to set roots here and then move to a new home, while opening the affordable homes up to new buyers.”

An estimate in 2020 showed that it would cost just about $7 million for the entire project and the housing authority would have a funding gap of about $2 million to make the project viable. An update of that analysis is expected to happen this fall after the housing authority hires an architect for the project. A final design is targeted for winter 2022 with construction beginning next summer, and homes ready in about a year.

“We trying to make this a catalyst project,” Williams said. “We’re looking to create more public-private partnerships that could help develop this but also help raise money and awareness.”

Collins said the goal is to construct homes that fit in with the neighborhood.

“We are working to make these homes look like the fabric of our community,” she said. “We want to create homes that people can afford and also look good.”

A 2016 housing needs assessment completed by the city found that Whitefish needed to add almost 1,000 new units of housing, both affordable and market rate, by the end of 2020 to keep up with demand. The city is planning to do an update of the assessment this fall.

For more information on the Whitefish Housing Authority, visit https://whitefishhousing.org/