Kalispell city councilors are considering the creation of an Affordable Housing and Homeless Advisory Committee after Monday night’s work session, per a discussion item at Mayor Ryan Hunter’s request.
“I see a couple different tasks for an advisory committee like this,” Hunter said. “The first would be we have the housing plan that’s part of our zoning update, some grant funding for that to hire out some contractors.”
Last year, the city of Kalispell received a $1,095,555 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to complete a housing study, as well as help the city update its growth policy, zoning and subdivision regulations as mandated by the Montana Land Use Planning Act (MLUPA). The grant was the largest amount given to any city in the state.
In the city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026/2027, city officials are intending to set aside $126,000 of those grant dollars for a comprehensive housing study.
“It would be great to have a committee that would weigh in and provide some input both on a request for proposal for hiring of the contractors for what we’re looking for there and also weighing in on the various drafts and making iterations on that and providing comments to the council,” Hunter said.
Several councilors said they were concerned about a committee whose focus might be too broad in scope or is duplicate to the work housing nonprofits in the community were already doing. Councilor Lisa Blank said she would like to see a committee that included representation from Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish.
“It’s not a Kalispell challenge, it’s a regional challenge,” Blank said. “Until we address it as a regional challenge, I don’t see this as becoming successful in addressing all the things that are happening that combine to create the situation we have.”
Hunter said efforts had been made in the past to collaborate with representatives from cities in the north valley on affordable housing efforts, but he had received little follow through on interest.
At Northwest Montana Community Land Trust, Executive Director Kim Morisaki works on providing permanent housing at below market rates. She’s also a member of a subcommittee at Community Housing Solutions that focuses on permanent housing, comprised of community members and six nonprofits, including NeighborWorks Montana, Habitat for Humanity, Housing Whitefish, Whitefish Housing Authority, the Flathead Warming Center and Samaritan House. The group works with all three municipalities, along with private and nonprofit developers.
“We would love very much were there to be a tri-city group that we could regularly communicate with,” Morisaki said at Monday’s work session.
Last month, the group of nonprofits created an inventory of all affordable rentals and homes in Flathead County, breaking down various types including low income, shelters and subsidized rentals. The group also created a database on vouchers for renting, which Morisaki said can be confusing, and a pipeline for what the nonprofits have planned to be built in the three cities. As of right now, the organizations have around 60 houses planned, Morisaki said.
“It’s not big, it’s not 300 houses at a time,” Morisaki said. “It’s five, 10, 20 houses at a time, but you got to start somewhere.”
Kalispell councilors will vote on creating an interim committee to help design the city’s housing study at a future meeting.
I’m Zoë Buhrmaster, here to take you through today’s Roundup.
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