HomeMy WebLinkAboutHCHT_CommunityHousingFund_CoverLetter_September.30.2020HEADWATERS COMMUNITY HOUSING TRUST
September 30, 2020
City of Bozeman City Commission
121 North Rouse Avenue
Bozeman MT 59715
Dear City Commissioners:
Thank you for your willingness to consider the request from the Headwaters Community Housing
Trust for $620,000 from the City of Bozeman’s Community Housing Fund to enhance the affordability
of 31 homes to be built and kept permanently affordable in the Bridger View neighborhood.
You are familiar with Bridger View – a diverse, amenity-rich neighborhood with 62 modest, highly
energy-efficient, owner-occupied (1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3-bedroom) homes to be built on the
8-acre site, immediately adjacent to the Story Mill Community Park, having unanimously approved
the preliminary PUD and plat for this development back in May. 26 of the homes will be made
affordable for “missing middle” income households (with incomes between 80%-120% of local median
income) and 5 homes will be made even more affordable to households at 70% of local median
income, meeting the requirements of the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance. These 31 sorely
needed homes will be made affordable for local working families through a combination of generous
philanthropic investment, value-engineered design and orchestrated community partnerships that
includes the City of Bozeman.
Originally, the role of the Headwaters Community Housing Trust (HCHT) was to preserve the
availability and affordability of these 31 homes, once completed, for generations to come. Through a
series of relatively recent developments, HRDC will transfer the ownership of the land and overall
responsibility for coordinating the Bridger View development to HCHT in November. Consequently,
HCHT – working in partnership with HRDC and other members of the design and development team
– is assuming responsibility for securing the additional funding and project cost offsets needed to
leverage additional funding commitments from our generous philanthropic partner and bridge the
remaining project budget gap. As we describe in our application, funding of $620,000 from the
Community Housing Fund will go a long way towards bridging this gap.
We elected to request $20,000 in housing affordability assistance for each of these 31 income-
targeted households rather than request $10,000 in down payment assistance plus impact fee waiver
for these homes. In exchange for this commitment of grant funding from the City for these homes in
the Bridger View neighborhood, we – the board of directors of the Headwaters Community Housing
Trust, along with Michael Brown, who has contracted with us to provide technical assistance and
executive management services – commit to keep these homes available and affordable, from one
homeowner to the next, for generations to come.
We welcome you to expand your partnership with us in this exciting endeavor that will not only
create 31 critically needed permanently affordable homes for local working families but serve as a
model for neighborhood development that can be replicated, again and again, here in Bozeman
Thank you for your consideration.
Carson Taylor, Barb Cestero, Randy Carpenter, Kelly Olinger, Tracy Menuez, Christine Walker
Headwaters Community Housing Trust Board of Directors