Affordable housing project on hold in Helena after local nonprofit withdraws from plans 

Development of an affordable housing project on the north side of Helena that was set to provide more than 100 homes has stalled after the lead organization said it couldn’t afford the necessary road construction.  

On Monday, city grants coordinator Amanda Opitz told the Helena City Commission that the Rocky Mountain Development Council formally withdrew from the housing project and returned a community grant to the city.

The development council, along with the local nonprofit groups Helena Area Habitat for Humanity and YWCA Helena, partnered to tackle one of Helena’s growing issues: the lack of affordable housing. The project’s goal was to address the housing crisis by building 113 apartment units on land owned by Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church. 

According to Rocky Mountain Development Council executive director Lori Ladas, the housing effort has been about five years in the making. In 2023, the city of Helena allocated RMDC $1.58 million, and the project partners, along with consulting groups Mosaic Architecture and SMA Architecture, began preliminary design and cost estimate work for the property.

However, RMDC couldn’t afford to build Horseshoe Bend Road, a crucial step in the construction plans, Ladas told Montana Free Press. 

Gretchen Krumm, of Mosaic Architecture in Helena, told MTFP in an email that the housing development was estimated to cost between $35 to $40 million. 

Krumm said the cost of building Horseshoe Bend connecting Benton Avenue to Green Meadow Drive was estimated at $1 million in 2022 but has increased in the last few years. The development site is required to have two access points, Krumm said, a need that the Horseshoe Bend Road connection would have filled. Krumm said that the city wanted to have the road in place before the property was developed. 

According to project plans, the property would have held 33 houses that Habitat for Humanity would sell, 60 rental units that the development council would lease and 20 transitional homes that YWCA Helena would manage. 

While RMDC withdrew from the project, Krumm, who is also a member of Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church, said that the church still owns the property and intends to pursue its goal of providing affordable housing.

“We do have this piece of property that we always intended to develop for some sort of community good,” Krumm told MTFP. “Since we see that affordable housing is such a persistent need in our community, we are still hopeful of finding a development partner to help us make it happen.”

Helena Area Habitat for Humanity executive director Jacob Kuntz said that the nonprofit is not part of the church’s next steps but is open to again joining the partnership once the church settles on a new plan.

“This just shows why building affordable homes is a challenge,” Kuntz told MTFP. “We’re certainly disappointed, but it’s completely understandable. Our Redeemer has been a fantastic group of people, and we support what they’re doing.”

YWCA Helena interim executive director Denise C. King told MTFP that the organization is still interested in continuing to partner with the church on developing transitional housing. 

Helana Mayor Wilmot Collins asked city manager Tim Burton during Monday night’s city commission meeting what’s next for the project. Burton said that the commission still has an interest in putting the grant money toward the project if plans come to fruition.

In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town.