March 26, 2024
Greetings Everyone,
Over the weekend, between basketball games, I watched some of the March 20th Local Government Interim Committee meeting. Senator Mary Ann Dunwell is a member, and serves as Vice Chair of the committee. A group of Helena citizens presented excellent, compelling testimony to the interim committee, including L&C county commissioner Andy Hunthausen, United Way Director of Community Impact Jeff Buscher, Montana Housing Coalition President Beki Brandborg, and Helena resident Mary Harlow. Interestingly, all of these individuals including Senator Dunwell are regulars at Hometown Helena.
Each person did an outstanding job. Ms. Harlow discussed the impact Airbnb’s & VRBO’s have on existing housing stock generally, which has been to take rental units out of the market. Commissioner Hunthausen talked about the difficulty local governments are having dealing with a problem not of their own making, with limited resources that rely mainly on property taxes. Jeff Buscher talked about the efforts the United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area to identify unhoused people and offer some assistance to them, either directly or through referral to one of the helping agencies in Helena. Ms. Brandborg made a direct request to the interim committee: for a state-based workforce housing tax credit of $1.5 million per year. This would augment the existing Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit. According to Ms. Brandborg, the federal tax credit administered by the Board of Housing at the Montana Department of Commerce is able to fund only about 25% of the applications received from all over the state each cycle. A state level housing tax credit would result in 122 additional affordable units per year.
Ms. Brandborg and her colleagues have explained the tax credit financing mechanism to me several times over the years, but I’m too dense to understand it very well. This mechanism has worked well, and what progress has been made to increase affordable housing in Montana is largely the result of tax credit based housing developments. Perhaps we could get a primer on this subject one of these weeks at Hometown Helena?
In other news, the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce issued its 2024 Annual Report to the Community in last Saturday’s Independent Record. This is an impressive document, with plenty of current, useful information for the reader. It’s rather like the old Yellow Pages, only better. Of particular interest is the Community Profile, which includes information on our Demographics, Employment, and Work Force. Government—state, local, federal—accounts for nearly one third (27.9%) of all employment in the Helena area. No surprise there. Healthcare and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food Service are the next three largest categories at 14%, 11%, and 9% respectively. The Report includes a membership directory and information on the Chamber’s Board of Directors and staff. The message from Anita Fasbender, the 2024 Board Chairwoman, is especially good. Here’s a brief quote: “We are dedicated to creating an environment where businesses can thrive, residents can flourish, and collaboration can lead to shared success.” It’s worth spending some quality time with the Chamber’s 2024 Report to the Community.
This week our guests will be members of the Lewis and Clark county’s Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) Team. A LOSS Team is made up of behavioral health professionals and community members who have lost a loved one to suicide. This is difficult, but necessary work. People need to recover. It will be good to hear about the efforts the LOSS Team is undertaking to ease the suffering of the survivors.
We hope you can join us in person this Thursday at Helena College, or that you will zoom into the meeting from the comfort of your own home, thanks to Aja Rail and Pinion Global, Inc.
Jim Smith
406-949-1002
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