08/05/2024
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to [email protected].
Baatz Block project on schedule for supportive, affordable housing solution
Once the site of prostitution and prohibition-era bootlegging, the Baatz Block building in downtown Great Falls is undergoing transformations in both appearance and purpose.
The building’s extensive renovation is reportedly on schedule. It will have 25 apartments for Great Falls’ first permanent supportive housing project, which is meant to serve people and families on the edge of homelessness and provide ongoing health care and other services to maintain stability.
“Permanent supportive housing is meant to provide support services,” said Cari Yturri, development director at Family Promise of Great Falls. “Some families just need that. They either have a disability or a mental situation. They need mental or physical support. They can’t survive in a living situation without that.”
Yturri works with families who are unhoused or don’t have stable housing. An unexpected health care bill or vehicle repair can put families behind on rent and put their shelter at risk. They might be moving between multiple temporary places to keep a roof over their heads.
The line separating families from homelessness can be desperately thin.
“A lot of people see homeless and think of substance abuse or mental health,” Yturri said. “But there are homeless who just can’t afford a home. That’s a reality.”
Permanent supportive housing is a novel, comprehensive model that, in the case of the Baatz Block building, puts health and behavioral care resources on site. Development partners are working to secure rental assistance as well, all intended to make residency a long-term prospect.
Extensive renovation to the once-vacant building is ongoing, and stakeholders say they’re on track to open next year.
“The team has been working wonderfully together,” said Heather McMilin, development director at Homeword, a Missoula organization that is among the stakeholders. “We should be on time to open in early 2025. It’s really a challenge when you’re dealing with historic structures and the unknowns. But the Baatz Block building had great bones.”
The great bones still needed fresh construction around them. The building had been chronically vacant, had standing water in the basement and was in general disrepair. In addition to upgrading the basics, one big challenge for renovators has been adding an elevator to the 111-year-old structure.
The work first involved excavating a new pit at the ground level, according to Julie Stiteler, project manager at Homeword. Adding a new basement-to-ceiling corridor can be an engineering challenge. In a historic building, much of that space was already necessary for some utility or support structure.
“Fortunately, there was a door-sized hole in the basement wall where they connected the new water service to the city water supply, so that made removing the dirt from the excavation easier and also made it easier to get the little excavator down in the basement,” Stiteler said via email.
The Baatz project has been long in the making, and it has taken a menagerie of partners and funding sources to accomplish.
NeighborWorks Great Falls is a major local stakeholder and an organization that works in affordable homeownership. Other major stakeholders are Homeword, Opportunities, Inc., Many Rivers Whole Health, the Great Falls Development Authority and local and state government.
And then there’s the funding. McMilin sent a list of funding sources that have contributed to the more than $12 million project. They include EPA Brownfield grants, historic tax credits, housing tax credits, federal housing trust funds, American Rescue Plan funds and federal HOME funds.
As someone who works daily with families experiencing homelessness, Yturri said it’s incredible how these factors came together on the Baatz project. It’s especially hopeful for the children of these families to have a basic need — shelter — off their minds.
“It’s a great thing that we desperately need,” she said. “I think we need more of it in Great Falls, but it’s very expensive and very hard to fund.”
Verbatim
“He was born right up the road here, between White Sulfur Springs and Belt, in a tipi. And when they rounded him up, they took him to St. Paul’s. He never got to go to school. He never learned so much as they talk about, oh, you’re going to school. No. He was labor. He had to take care of the garden. He had to take care of the sheep. He had to take care of the milk cows.”
—An unidentified Montanan interviewed about how Indian boarding schools sometimes emphasized physical labor over education. The comments were part of “The Road to Healing” interviews conducted at the University of Montana in 2023.
These interviews are part of a massive report on Indian boarding schools. The full report can be found on the Bureau of Indian Affairs website. The larger initiative includes continued oral history interviews, some of which were conducted in Great Falls last week.
Photo Op
A cow named Sue gets a buzz cut from Dan Vanek of Silesia, Mont., in the livestock pavilion at Montana Expo Park on July 30. Animal presentations and judged shows took place all week during the Montana State Fair.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
- The city of Great Falls’ utility software update remains in transition. A notice from the city on July 31 said that the utility website is live, though users can only register and create an account. Online payments aren’t yet available. In the meantime, utility payments can be made in person at the city finance office or by mail.
- Colorado-based Guzman Energy announced its agreement to provide wholesale electricity for the city of Great Falls. The city commission first approved a two-year contract in April that will take effect in November. Guzman’s proposed rate of $74.75/MWh is lower than the outgoing contract with Energy Keepers, which is $89.95/MWh.
- The Montana Historical Society awarded Union Bethel AME church a $497,712 U.S. Department of Interior grant for building repairs and maintenance work. Organized in 1890, the church is a center for the Black community and worship in Great Falls.
- The University of Providence announced two leadership hires. Caroline Gaoulet is the new provost and VP of academic affairs. A.J. Hoy is the new VP of mission integration, a role that helps to build policies that uphold the school’s Roman Catholic values.
- The city of Great Falls lifted a water boil advisory for parts of north Great Falls. The order was precautionary after a water main break. Daily water testing found no harmful contamination, according to a city notice. Sidewalk and street repairs will be ongoing over the coming months.
Crunching the Numbers
Patrick Barkey, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, gave a presentation on July 31 at the Meadowlark Country Club about the economics of housing in Montana. He noted the high cost of homeownership and showed a map of monthly payments as a percentage of median monthly household income.
The numbers were alarming in places you’d expect, like 72% in Gallatin County, 69% in Flathead County and 62% in Missoula County. The figure was 39% in Cascade County, which has a median home cost that’s roughly half of the aforementioned counties. The median home sale price in Cascade County is $336,720, according to Barkey.
Home prices followed seasonal growth over the first six months of 2024 in Cascade County, even in a slower housing market. Data from the Great Falls Association of Realtors show average home sales at lower prices than in 2023 with a higher inventory this year.