Trust Montana is always looking for new ways to partner with for-profit and non-profit developers that want to include permanently affordable lease-restricted units in their projects. The developer of the project can donate parcels of land to Trust Montana, or receive assistance with monitoring units to ensure they remain affordable. For-profit and private donors of land can receive tax benefits, and Trust Montana can steward the affordable units in perpetuity to ensure they are re-sold at an affordable price to income-qualified households in the future. This kind of partnership is an effective way to incrementally add to the stock of affordable units in Montana by building off the momentum of a hot development and real estate market.
Have another idea for making housing more affordable? Call us to talk about it!
Community land trusts are becoming more popular across the country as the affordable housing crisis increases in urgency. Many city governments are adopting policies to plan for supporting CLT development. Municipalities can partner with Trust Montana by donating land, providing subsidy to increase the affordability of a project, or developing policies that incentivize for-profit developers to develop homes on Trust Montana land – helping developers take care of their bottom line while adding to the stock of permanently affordable homes in Montana.
In 2019, Trust Montana and Gallatin Valley Habitat for Humanity partnered to create the first CLT-Habitat hybrid home in the state. The partnership has created a replicable model for Trust Montana, and hopefully other CLTs around the country, to use. The next Habitat-Trust Montana project will be developed in partnership with Helena Area Habitat for Humanity and the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation and will consist of six homes in Red Lodge.
Trust Montana is a non-profit 501©3 organization and receives private and federal grant funding to support development of new projects and general operations. Trust Montana has a small staff and a statewide Board of Directors with expertise in housing, finance, farming, and law. We are always happy to accept tax-deductible donations to support our work.
Our work has been supported by the following funders:
- The Llewellyn Foundation
- O. P. and W. E. Edwards Foundation
- Montana Justice Foundation
- High Stakes Foundation
- Catholic Campaign for Human Development
- US Bank
- Missoula Federal Credit Union
- USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program
- Grounded Solutions
Some of our best partnerships are with other non-profits! Trust Montana is not a developer, but we excel at stewardship. We like to partner with organizations that excel at development. Most development organizations do not want to take on the responsibilities involved with monitoring the affordability of housing or agricultural lands, but they see the value in permanent affordability of these vital community assets—so we take on the job of perpetual stewardship – taking land donations from other non-profits and entering legal contracts with the partners and the buyers of the affordable homes or farms. It’s a win-win: the non-profits get to stretch their subsidy dollars by utilizing our stewardship expertise, and we get to increase our organizational reach by adding more units around the state. Some of our non-profit partners include: Homeword Inc., Habitat for Humanity of Gallatin Valley, and the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation.
Call us to talk about partnering for a more equitable Montana!
Coming soon.
