Glacier Country News

Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2025 out of Full Committee Markup. The bill includes more than $20 million in funding for Western Montana infrastructure projects and legislative language to address a loophole in rental housing assistance grants that has cost Montanans millions. The next step for the bill is a vote on the House floor, scheduled for the last week of July.

To address rental housing assistance for low-income residents, the bill includes a Zinke-proposed pilot program to manage rapidly inflating rental costs in rural communities. Specifically, this program appropriates $7 million within HUD’s Community Development “Pro-Housing” account to create a program for “research on rapidly increasing rents in lower-population density, non-coastal states, and proposing promising solutions.”

The problem this aims to solve is that rental assistance funding is set on a statewide formula; however, Western Montana is currently experiencing inflated rental rates in rural, low-income communities. This is due to several factors including summer tourism season putting additional burdens on already tight rental markets for additional staff housing and seasonal residents, the lack of infrastructure to support additional housing (like water systems that Zinke is requesting funding for in this bill), and the high costs for new construction.

As seasonal rates spike, the ability for Montana Housing Authorities (MHA) to assist renters diminishes, forcing them to bank funding in non-peak months. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), however, rescinds funds not used in off-peak times, leaving Montana at risk. This year alone, more than $3 million has been pulled back from Montana accounts and Congressman Zinke prevented another $2.5 million in rescissions. In response to this issue, Zinke’s office worked with MHA and HUD officials to create a pilot program that would give more flexibility to states with rural areas experiencing a rental shortage and high rents compared to the rest of the state.

“The housing crisis is real, and Montanans who are already struggling with paying for basic needs can’t keep up,” Congressman Zinke said. “Montana Housing Authority contacted me about their funds being swept due to bureaucratic missteps and the lack of flexibility in the program that made it unworkable for rural America. We were able to preserve the funding and now, working together, we were able to advance this pilot program to give rural Montana more flexibility in administering the program. Families are struggling with rising costs for gas, groceries, and specifically rent. This won’t solve all the problems but hopefully it alleviates a piece of it.”

Also included in the bill are eight of Rep. Zinke’s Community Project Funding requests totaling more than $20 million directly allocated to Montana communities.

Rep. Zinke’s requests will now come before the House Floor for a vote and then hopefully be included in the joint funding package approved by both chambers of Congress before being signed by the President.

Community Project Funding Requests:

- $10 million for Seeley Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant

- $5 million for Ravalli County Wastewater Treatment Plant

- $820,318 for Rural Airport Reconstruction and Emergency Services Expansion

- $977,500 for Repaving Marten Creek Road

- $1 million for Flathead County North Fork Road Guardrails

- $1 million for Groff Lane Bridge Replacement

- $1 million for Old Corvallis Road Repair

- $700 thousand for Troy Library and Opportunity Center

A summary of the bill is available here.

Bill text is available here.

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