A privately funded workforce housing project plans to break ground in the Old Sawmill District this fall, offering 19 loft studio and one-bedroom apartments.
While most members of City Council on Monday night used their platform to remember the lives lost on 9-11, one council member decried the local media's coverage of her initiative to place homeless camps in city parks and on city property in all six voting wards.
The new budgets adopted by the city and county of Missoula include funding to begin remediation work on the old federal building, along with money to cover operating costs over the next year.
After completing a study on the Brooks Street corridor and its need for both transit and pedestrian improvements, the city is ready to embark on the next step by designing the project.
County officials said local residents would have seen a tax decrease this year if not for the increased value of homes. The Legislature's failure to lower the residential tax rate from 1.35% to .94%, as recommended by DOR, also played a role.
Missoula County on Tuesday placed its official support behind an effort lead by Beaverhead County that's challenging the state's “consistent” levying of certain mills despite a provision in Montana law that requires a reduction in mills when taxable values increase.
Opening several authorized camp sites for the homeless in city parks and vacant lots in each of Missoula's six voting wards would provide some homeless residents a “place to exist,” one City Council member argued on Wednesday.
A new tool in state law that defines workforce housing as infrastructure has city leaders eager to implement a pilot program that will direct tax increment toward “bricks and mortar” projects while helping grow the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund.