Montana
Montana workforce housing tax credit gets bipartisan support in House • Daily Montanan
A workforce housing tax credit bill moved ahead Thursday in the Montana House with significant bipartisan support.
Modeled after the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the state credit in House Bill 21 aims to be one fix to the state’s persistent lack of housing and the high cost of existing homes.
It would offer credits managed by the state for affordable housing developments.
Rep. George Nikolakakos, R-Great Falls, said because Montana didn’t have the program in place before, it has left 1,300 units on the table since 2019. He said the return on investment with the program is good.
“It’s a program that gets shovels in the ground,” Nikolakakos said.
The program would offer $1.5 million worth of credits each year for six years on a cumulative basis, and then sunset, according to a fiscal analysis by legislative staff.
Sponsor Rep. Larry Brewster, R-Billings, said the bill is “a little expensive,” but it is needed given the state of housing affairs in Montana. He said the money doesn’t go out until the project is done, and the affordable rent is guaranteed for at least 30 years.
In a committee hearing, he said the credit has a beginning and an end date, and “lots of opportunity for oversight.” It fills the gap that developers can’t afford to pay with the federal credit, possibly grants, and a bank loan.
“These days the mortgage can’t quite reach around what the federal tax credit provides, so this would be a bridge to fill that in,” Brewster said.
Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula, said housing tax credits already are successful, and HB 21 helps address the severe problems in Montana. He said projects don’t pencil out at the rates needed for people living on the margins.
The Montana Housing Coalition said a home is deemed “affordable” if a household pays no more than 30% of its income for a home including utilities. It said 32 other states have such a program.
“This is an opportunity to create additional housing units, an opportunity to make a dent in our housing crisis,” Thane said.
All Democrats supported the bill, along with 33 Republicans.
Twenty-five Republicans opposed it, some objecting to the price tag. At its peak year, it will cost the general fund $9 million, according to an estimate in the fiscal analysis.
Rep. Jed Hinkle, R-Belgrade, said he appreciates the intent, but he doesn’t believe the government should interfere with the free market because “it messes things up.”
“Then, we have people say, ‘The free market doesn’t work.’ Well, this is why. It’s because of constant government intervention,” Hinkle said.
In a House Tax committee hearing last week, developers, affordable housing advocates, and members of the business community spoke in favor of the bill.
Proponents said the credit multiplies in the state economy. They described the bill as one that will help fill the financing gap that has emerged as costs to build have increased in the form of higher interest rates and prices of materials.
The only opponent at the hearing was the Montana Society of CPAs, which opposes credits in general because they complicate the tax code. On behalf of the accountants, John Iverson suggested the money be handed out directly instead of through a credit.
Sam Sill, with the Montana Bankers Association, said people considered “the working poor” will be helped with the credit.
“The cost of building is significant enough now, high enough now, that without some degree of support, you probably can’t build housing that those folks are going to able to afford,” said Sill, who said he used to represent real estate developers.
Beki Brandborg, chair of the Montana Housing Coalition and a private affordable housing developer, said she and a partner were able to take an old apartment building of subsidized units in Culbertson “back to the future” with a similar credit.
She said the people who live in the units are hairdressers, cooks, dishwashers, grocery store clerks, mechanics and school janitors.
A couple of mayors spoke in favor of the credit, too. Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis, who worked in housing development, said affordable housing is one of the reasons voters elected her.
Regulation alone won’t solve the problem, she said. Capital is necessary, and she views housing in the same way she sees sewer, water, roads, and sidewalks in a community.
“Homes that Missoulians can afford, and that Montanans can afford, that our workforce can afford, is our housing infrastructure. It is an investment in our residents,” Davis said.
Michael O’Neil, head of the Helena Housing Authority, pointed to a 2022 study from the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research as evidence of future success.
“For every dollar in lost revenue to the tax credit, a state credit program is estimated to leverage $2.69 in direct public and private residential spending in the broader state economy,” O’Neil said. “This is a very conservative estimate.”
Montana’s Board of Housing manages those credits, and in recent years, it has awarded nearly all of its federal allocation, roughly $29 million each year, and has received applications for “at least double that,” the study said.
Citing the study, O’Neil said 40% more units of low-income housing tax credits could be built every year in Montana if the state started a program, or 122 more a year.
Had such a credit been in place in 2019, Aubrey Godbey with the Montana Budget and Policy Center estimated even more units could have been built, 1,350 at the end of 2024.
Godbey said Montana has 42 units of affordable homes available for every 100 households who need them, citing data on rentals from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Developer Don Sterhan and member of the Montana Housing Coalition said many members want to see the credit pass. The bill needs one more vote to pass the House.
“It’s not the total solution, but it helps, and it very well might be the component that makes the difference whether a project is built or not,” Sterhan said.
Also in support were the Montana Chamber of Commerce, the Montana League of Women Voters, the NeighborWorks Montana, Homeward, Montana Contractors Association, Montana Association of Realtors and Shelter Whitefish, and Montana League of Cities and Towns.
BOZEMAN — Aaron Flint and Al Olszewski, Republican candidates for Montana’s Western District U.S. House race, squared off Tuesday in their party’s only scheduled debate before the party primary.
The two debated for about 90 minutes at Bozeman’s Calvary Chapel before an audience of about 120 people. Bozeman anchors Gallatin County, which is second in Republican votes only to Flathead County within the 18-county district.
Natural resource jobs, affordable housing and U.S. military attacks on Iran dominated the discussion. Each question drew 12 minutes of response. Both men called for an end to stock trading by members of Congress, and for federal budgets to be passed on time through regular procedures.
The Montana GOP sponsored the debate. Candidate Christi Jacobsen, Montana’s secretary of state, was unable to attend, according to state Republican Party Chair Art Wittich. State Senate President Matt Regier moderated.
Among the highlights: Flint mentioned no fewer than eight times that he is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Olszewski mentioned Trump by name only a couple of times.
Never too far from Flint’s talking points were “far-left socialists,” whom he credited for “gerrymandering” the Western House District (which has delivered comfortable wins for Republicans since first appearing on the ballot in 2022). The 2026 election cycle was the target of Democrats on the state’s districting commission, Flint said. (Both Democrats on the commission that drew the district in 2021 voted against its current configuration.)
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The near faux pas of the night came during Olszewski’s discussion of good-paying jobs in trades and natural resources: “Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, you know, high-dollar, white-collar jobs, our remote workers who have moved into Montana, and we’ve adapted an economy around them. You know, these are the people, and those are the jobs that will bring our kids home, those high-paying white-collar jobs, or a good natural resource job in western Montana, in one of those mines, or, you know, you know, a sawyer or a hooker” — big pause — “as in timber, not the other way around.”
The line that didn’t land: Flint tried and failed to get audience applause for the 2024 defeat of Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester by Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy — an unseating Flint campaigned for.
“How many of you out there are so glad that we finally got rid of the flip-flop, flat-top liberal senator, Jon Tester? How many of you are so glad we finally did that?”
After a silence, Flint explained to people watching the debate on Facebook that the audience was just being polite.
“They’re waving because we can’t have disruptions. See, they’re good rule followers here in the Republican Party,” Flint said.
Asked how to alleviate Montana’s housing affordability crisis:
Olszewski: “The only way you can afford an expensive house is you’ve got to have a job that pays good money. Tourist jobs provide rent and roommates. Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, high‑dollar white‑collar jobs … those are the jobs that will bring our kids home.” Dr. Al, as Olszewski is widely known, said Wall Street investment buyers are distorting housing prices and the federal government has weakened the dollar.
Flint: “Thirty percent of the cost of a home is all due to red tape and regulations … It costs $100,000 to build a home before you even put a hole in the ground.”
Flint said reviving Montana’s timber industry would lower home values and added, “I support President Trump’s ban on these big Wall Street firms buying single-family homes. I think that’s something that we’ve got to get across the finish line.”
“We can deliver when it comes to making the Montana dream affordable again by delivering affordable housing. But another piece is promoting trades and trades education to build up our workforce.”
Asked how Congress should respond to the Iran conflict:
Olszewski: “I supported our president with what happened in Venezuela. There’s a $25 million bounty on basically someone that was killing our people through drugs, right? I’m not so happy with what’s going on in the Iran war. I’m not a warrior. I’m a physician from the military that fixed military people … What my perspective is, is that countries can win wars, but people do not. They don’t come back.” Olszewski said Congress will have to decide whether to authorize further use of military force and set terms in about 10 days.
Flint: “Let me just say this. We are sick and tired of these forever wars, and we do not want to see a long-term boots-on-the-ground Iraq-style nation-building exercise, and I think President Trump shares that mission as well. Let me also say this about Iran. First off, [former Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro is behind bars. [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei is dead, but the far-left socialists are on the march in Montana.”
Asked about reforming Congress:
Olszewski: “What our congressmen and congresswomen have to understand is that if you’re in the House, the House belongs to the people, and they need to, first and foremost, represent you, not themselves, not special interests. It’s not about sound-bites. It’s about actually getting work done and governing.” Olszewski said the House needs to pass a budget based on 12 agency appropriations bills before the end of each federal fiscal year, a process known as “regular order.”
Flint: “We need to return to regular order and get single-subject bills and get these appropriations bills done one by one. If they can’t get a budget done, they shouldn’t get paid. And we need a ban on congressional stock trading. Because I think part of the reason why the American people are so frustrated with Congress right now is because … they believe that Congress is so useless, because we’ve got some of these politicians back there that are getting rich off the backs of taxpayers.”
Neither candidate offered a plan for cutting taxes, once a staple of Republican platforms. Both supported reductions in federal spending without identifying particular cuts.
Voting in Montana’s 2026 primary election begins May 4 and ends June 2.
POLSON, Mont. — Two motorcyclists crashed on Highway 35 near Polson after failing to negotiate a left-hand curve, leaving one man dead and another hospitalized, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
Two motorcycles were traveling southbound on Highway 35 when both drifted into a guardrail. Both drivers were separated from their motorcycles and ended up on the other side of the guardrail.
A 58-year-old Polson man was confirmed dead at the scene. The second driver, a 45-year-old man, also from Polson, was taken to the hospital with injuries.
Alcohol is a suspected factor in the crash, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
The crash is under investigation.
KALISPELL — A Flathead County man is turning a personal rock bottom into a lifeline for his community by starting a free, late-night ride service to keep drunk drivers off the roads.
Adam Bruzza started Big Sky Sobriety Shuttle LLC, a free ride share service for people who have been drinking, after realizing he was struggling with addiction.
Maddie Keifer reports – watch the video here:
MT man starts free, late-night ride service to keep drunk drivers off the roads
“I just wanted to give people who do still drink the option for a safe, sober ride home,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza said a devastating mistake behind the wheel became a turning point where he decided enough was enough.
“I was charged with a DUI October 22 of 2024,” Bruzza said.
After a few months focused on his sobriety, Bruzza channeled his energy into his community by starting the shuttle service.
He operates the shuttle in his personal pickup truck. Riders can reach him by phone, text or social media at any time of day or night at no cost.
“I just wanted to give others the opportunity to not get a life changing charge,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza works with bars to connect riders with his service. Although the Big Sky Sobriety Shuttle is a new endeavor, he has already seen a big impact.
“The community response without a doubt has been unconditional love and support that makes my heart all warm and fuzzy,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza also shared a message for others who may be struggling with addiction.
“Your life is worth it, there are people that care out there and it is okay to ask for help,” Bruzza said.
To learn more, click here to visit the Facebook page.
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