Cascade County Commissioners voted unanimously during their Aug. 13 meeting to opt into a new state housing program and designate NeighborWorks Great Falls as the community reinvestment organization.

The Montana Community Reinvestment Plan Act, HB 819, was established during the 2023 Legislature to address the statewide shortage of attainable workforce housing and funds regional community reinvestment organization to lower mortgage costs for eligible households.

Counties that opt in and designate a community reinvestment organization can access those state funds and must match them with local funds through the organization and its partners. It does not require a match from the county government, meaning there’s no financial burden to the county, Commissioner Joe Briggs said.

The funds will be used to lower mortgage costs for eligible households up to 140 percent of area median income, “thereby improving housing affordability and economic stability,” according to NeighborWorks Great Falls.

Counties that don’t opt into the program would be able to access those state funds.

The 2023 legislation appropriated $50 million to the initiative to be allocated to counties based on the percentage of the combined county gross domestic product within the regional boundaries of the organization to that of the state’s.

Cascade County’s share is $3,565 million, which must be completely matched before the state funds can be used, according to the legislation.

The state has also set aside funds specific to counties with populations of less than 15,000 that are within a 30-mile radius of a state-owned facility that, on average, houses at least 100 state inmates or behavioral health patients and the county housing that facility has a population under 15,000.

Sherrie Arrey, NeighborWorks Great Falls’ executive director, said that by the county opting into the program, NWGF will work with community partners, such as Great Falls Development Alliance, to raise the required match that will create a local revolving loan fund for financial assistance for qualified homebuyers with 80 percent to 140 percent of area median income for up to 30 percent of the total home purchase price.

Since NWGF is already a housing-focused agency with lending and homebuyer assistance programs, they proposed to be the designated community reinvestment organization community for Cascade County.

Arrey said that once they get Cascade County established, they’ll work with area counties that may want to join under their community reinvestment organization designation, but funds allocated to counties stay within those counties.

The legislation limited community reinvestment organization designations to 16 statewide with the intention of the agency serving multiple counties in their regions.

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Arrey told commissioners during their Aug. 13 meeting that the funds are intended to help the “missing middle” of workforce housing for those looking to buy in the $350,000 to $400,000 range.

She said that her agency has been looking at numbers to see what someone making 140 percent of area median income in a one or two person household looks like and it’s not attainable for many in that range to buy a $350,000 house.

“The housing burden is really big,” Arrey told commissioners.

She said they’re seeing more people spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

The new state funding program is designed to help with down payments and mortgage payments to make buying a house more financially feasible.

The program could also incentivize more developers to build homes in that price range, helping homebuyers and employers, knowing that there’s homebuyer assistance for that income bracket, she said.

Commissioner Joe Briggs said that in Cascade County, agencies have back to back housing studies that demonstrate a “tremendous need” for housing, particularly in the workforce income bracket.

GFDA commissioned a housing study in 2022 and an update that was released earlier this year.

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Adam Seidman of the Concord Group, GFDA’s consultant, said in April that they project there’s demand for about 650 new housing units per year over the next decade.

Based on the expected split between owners and renters, the assessment projected that it breaks down to a need for 270 new rental units and 370 new for sale/new ownership units per year over the next decade across income levels.

Those numbers were up from their projected demand in the 2022 report.

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Briggs said that his son is a teacher and the only way he could afford housing while teaching at Fort Peck was for the district to purchase the housing.

Briggs said the new state funding program struck him as something school districts could benefit from and were a likely partner.

Jake Clark of GFDA said his agency supported the program and designating NWGF as the community reinvestment organization since they’re already offering housing services.

He said developers looking to build in Cascade County often ask what kind of homebuyer services exist in the community.

There was no public comment on the program or NWGF designation during the meeting.