HELENA – The final piece of financing is in place for an affordable housing development on Helena’s west side.
There are 85 affordable housing units in the Red Alder development planned for the corner of Henderson and Brady Streets.
They’re being developed by the Rocky Mountain Development Council, which recently received word they’ll be getting two grants from the Department of Commerce.
One is a Housing Trust Fund Grant of just under two million and the other a HOME grant of $750,000.
RMDC Director of Affordable Housing Liz Mogstad says this type of housing serves an important need in Helena.
“There’s a lot of people in this community who basically make too much money to qualify for any sorts of benefits but can’t afford our market rents,” says Mogstad. “And so it’s really hard to get ahead in life — so that’s what we’re hoping these apartments will do: give people kind of a leg up, they can live there get themselves established and hopefully move up and out and into either market rentals or buy a home some day.”
Mogstad says they hope to put the project out to bid by July with construction beginning in late summer.
The homes will not be ready for tenants until next year and there will be an application process.
Reporting by Melissa Jensen for MTN News
