Housing advocacy in the Montana legislature was more robust and successful in 2019 than ever before. The increased activity is due both to the decreasing affordability of homes in Montana and the increasing clout of the Montana Housing Coalition. Advocates held their largest Housing Day in the Rotunda on February 12, with Montana Housing Coalition members and supporters rallying around their legislative agenda.
The Montana Housing Coalition succeeded in creating a new workforce housing loan program, House Bill 16 (HB16), signed into law by Governor Steve Bullock on May 10. Other items on their agenda, notably the creation of a statewide affordable housing tax credit, fell short of passage, but the conversations and committee votes progressed further than ever before. Montana Housing Coalition leaders are enthusiastic about what might be possible with the next legislature.
HB16 establishes a $15 million loan fund for the production and preservation of “workforce housing” for low-income households earning 80% of area median income (AMI) or below and moderate-income households earning 95% of AMI or below. The new loan program is to be used only for multi-family developments. According to advocates, the fund is important for communities having difficulty housing essential municipal employees such as teachers and service workers such as bank tellers or retail workers. The $15 million will be drawn from the permanent coal tax trust fund which was used previously to create Montana’s Veteran’s Home Loan Program. HB16 sets an interest rate 0.5% below what is currently available through the existing Montana Housing Fund; loan repayments are intended to ensure the long-term vitality of the coal tax trust fund. HB16 was introduced by Representative Dave Fern (D).
Another legislative victory was the passage of Senate Bill 204 (SB204) which provides tax relief to Montana homeowners who lost their homes at auction due to tax debts as low as $150. Local governments often expend more resources to seize the homes and render the occupants homeless than the tax arrearages. Many of these impacted homeowners are very low-income owners of aging manufactured homes, often seniors living on fixed incomes. SB204 exempts the oldest and lowest-value mobile homes from personal property taxes, reducing the loss of such homes at auction. Mobile homes older than 28 years and valued at less than $10,000 will be exempt from taxes.
Other proposals fell short of passage, including one for a state-funded study of affordable housing challenges in Montana and one to create a state-level workforce housing tax credit program. The proposed tax credit program was modeled largely after the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit, but it would have been able to serve higher income- households. The proposal emerged from the Montana Board of Housing’s ability to fund only approximately 25% of multifamily rental home development applications. The proposed cap on the annual value of tax credits was $6.4 million. Montana Housing Coalition will continue to work to create the workforce housing tax credit in the next legislature.
A notable strategy deployed by Montana Housing Coalition in their 2019 efforts was a deliberate focus on effective messaging. In addition to using compelling personal stories and compelling data – including NLIHC state-level data on housing wages and cost burdens – Montana Housing Coalition trained advocates to avoid common housing industry jargon and buzzwords that carry negative connotations. They produced a “messaging matters” packet for their Housing Day which provided alternatives to terms such “area median income” and “housing units.” Advocates focused their messaging on the economic benefits of investing in housing programs, sharing that the Montana Department of Commerce’s Census and Economic Information Center estimates 13 new jobs are created with each $1 million invested in the construction of new homes. Advocates believe the new messaging was an important component of their successes and the growing momentum.
“We are pleased by the passage of helpful legislation like HB16 and SB204, even though our most ambitious proposal for a state workforce housing task credit fell short,” said Maureen Rude, executive director of NeighborWorks Montana and acting chair of the Montana Housing Coalition. “The energy and effort present in this year’s legislative session was unprecedented, and we are anxious to build on this groundswell of support and win on more of our key priorities in the next legislature.”
For more information about the Montana Housing Coalition and legislative efforts in 2019, contact Maureen Rude at: [email protected]
Learn more about the Montana Housing Coalition at: www.mthousingcoalition.org