Habitat Flathead and Northwest Montana Community Land Trust join forces to build affordable housing

Construction is underway at the corner of Seventh Street and Ninth Avenue West in Kalispell. Habitat Flathead is building a duplex-style townhouse on this lot owned by the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust (NWMCLT). This townhouse is the first of a series of collaborative building projects between the community land trust and the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. 

By working together, the townhouses will be amongst the most affordable housing available in the Flathead Valley. Since the land under the townhouses will remain with the community land trust in perpetuity, the price of the land will not figure into the cost to the buyer. Habitat homes are always significantly more affordable because most of the labor is performed by volunteers, including the household selected to own it. Habitat homeowners also benefit from being able to access Montana Board of Housing mortgages at a fixed interest rate of 2% for 30 years. 

The two two-story townhouses at 902 and 906 Seventh Street will each have two bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms. The units will be joined by one-car garages. MaryBeth Morand, Habitat Flathead’s Executive Director, said she expects the purchase price of these townhouses to be between $250,000 and $300,000. The homeowners will sign a Ground Lease with the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust that will cap the equity the homeowner can accrue and give the community land trust the first right of refusal on the townhouse. Kim Morisaki, Executive Director of NWMCLT, said she is especially happy to have two new land trust units within walking distance to downtown Kalispell and local schools. 

Applications for the townhouses are open until Aug. 31. Applicants must earn 30-80% of the area median income, demonstrate the ability to pay a mortgage, consent to co-building with Habitat, and demonstrate the need for better housing. More information about the application process can be found at www.habitatflathead.org/homeownership. 

The Northwest Montana Community Land Trust and Habitat Flathead will break ground later in the year on a three-to-five-bedroom single family home in Columbia Falls on another community land trust property. The two organizations will also collaborate on a joint project on a larger lot on Railroad Street in Columbia Falls next year. 

Both organizations are on the lookout for additional parcels of land for future collaborative projects. If you have any land that you would like to sell or donate in order to keep some of the housing stock in the Flathead Valley permanently affordable, please contact Kim Morisaki, kim@nwmtclt.org, or MaryBeth Morand, director@habitatflathead.org. Both organizations are participating in the 2024 Great Fish Community Challenge that runs through Sept. 9. To donate during the Challenge, visit whitefishcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list