Where: Ronan, Montana

Problem: Low-income communities lack affordable housing access

Solution: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) provides development assistance for workforce housing development

Ronan, Montana is a community of about 2,000 people. Employers are desperate for housing for their employees, and the local housing authority has more than 200 families on the housing wait list. A market study found only one available unit in the three village area of Ronan, Pablo and St. Ignatius.

Lake County Community Housing Organization (LCCHO) an affiliate of the Ronan Housing Authority, contacted RCAC for help when a crisis was pending. One of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects it managed was converting to home ownership, first to be offered to the tenants, and then to the income qualified general public. Twenty-four families live in the project. Knowing that not everyone living in the complex would be able to purchase, and given the more than 200 families already on the wait list, LCCHO needed new units to absorb the displaced tenants and current wait list. Like most small nonprofit organizations, it didn’t have personnel with time, nor the training to develop the project, and its balance sheet wasn’t strong enough to entice an investor.

RCAC entered into a partnership with LCCHO and agreed to provide it with staff time and technical training to develop a tax credit project, and agreed to take on the risk LCCHO’s balance sheet couldn’t accommodate. Working together, the partners applied for and successfully received the majority of funding for the project including a significant tax credit allocation, which funds about 75 percent of the project. In rural areas there aren’t other sources to support a project, they lack private grant sources and typical urban sources, so federal block grant funds are key.

The following federal sources are critical to this project’s success:

• Community Development Block Grant
• HOME
• Low Income Housing Tax Credits
• Housing Trust Fund

By spring of 2020, 24 new units of workforce housing, with a computer bank, a community room and children’s play area will be available to rent. For the first time, LCCHO will have space to provide workforce training and employment support along with other services to its tenants.