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Missoula council approves $1.1 million in housing, homelessness and childcare grants
Summary
The City Council adopted the annual United Application action plan, awarding roughly $1.1 million across local and federal housing and community programs and authorizing the mayor to sign contracts.
The Missoula City Council voted 11-0 on May 5 to adopt the city's United Application action plan, approving just over $1.1 million in awards from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) and HOME-ARP funds and directing staff to negotiate contracts.
The awards include funding for emergency rent and deposit assistance, affordable housing rehabilitation and capacity-building for service providers. The council also set a public comment period for the federal action plan through May 15, with staff saying federal grant agreements must be in hand before any contracts are signed.
Why it matters: The awards mix federal and local dollars to prevent and respond to houselessness and to preserve or create affordable housing, areas the council and community identified as high priorities in annual allocation plans and needs assessments.
Councilors heard a staff presentation from Tracy Pondorf, grants program manager in Community Planning, Development and Innovation, and Colleen Kane, grants administrator. Staff said HUD has not finalized CDBG and HOME allocations for the program year; the council's adoption authorizes staff to proceed with award negotiations and contract execution once federal grant agreements are received.
Major recommended awards listed in the staff presentation included: - United Way / Housing Solutions Fund: $118,605 (AHTF) to provide flexible financial assistance to prevent houselessness; staff estimated the fund would benefit about 250 low-income people. - Human Resource Council ' Houseless Prevention: $100,000 (HOME-ARP) for rent and deposit assistance plus $11,944 for operating/capacity support. - Partnership treatment/navigation site (reported as Watershed Navigation Center / partner): $299,937 (HOME-ARP) for direct services and $35,824 operating/capacity funds; staff estimated ~250 low-income people would benefit. - HomeWorks ' Lenox Flats rehabilitation: $200,000 (HOME) for rehabilitation of a 10-unit affordable project plus a smaller operating allocation. - Poverello Center ' Housing Montana's Heroes: $247,520 (CDBG) to help construct a 20-unit transitional housing facility for veterans at a site on Broadway. - Parks & Recreation afterschool programs: $74,755 (CDBG) to support afternoon childcare complementing MCPS's Jump Start early literacy program.
Staff said this year's awards total just over $1.1 million and reported anticipated non-federal leverage of about $877,000. Staff noted two pathways to match funding with projects: a competitive scoring committee and targeted matching based on identified community needs.
Public comment: Eric Leggvold of United Way of Missoula County spoke in support of the Housing Solutions Fund award and described program impact from November 2021 through Nov. 1, 2024: assistance to about 715 households (roughly 2,000 people) and roughly $528,000 in aid across the full program period; July 1'Nov. 1 of the most recent year saw assistance to about 240 households ($236,451). Leggvold said roughly 70% of assistance went to extremely low-income households.
Next steps: Contracts will be negotiated and executed after HUD grant agreements are finalized; staff asked the public to review the CDBG/HOME annual action plan and submit comments to EngageMissoula through May 15.
Ending: The council's approval lets staff move forward with award contracts and keeps a mix of prevention, operating support and housing production projects in the city's pipeline.
