Housing advocates hopeful about new state program 3%
By JoVonne Wagner8%
8/3/2026, 6:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 10 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Hasty Generalization, and In-Group Bias, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 5.5% saturation with 96 hits. Analysis detected 474 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,757 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 11.2% and a BS Rank of 3% (26,101 of 26,881 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.10% of the article peer group.
Welcome back!
It’s JoVonne here with your dose of Helena This Week.
And just like that, we are back to another Monday.
Hope everyone found some rest this weekend, because I did.
Actually, this was the first weekend since the beginning of summer that I didn’t have travel plans, and it was amazing.
In this issue, I chatted it up with a vet who helped put on Helena’s first veterans’ rodeo and resource fair.
Additionally, the county public health department is offering STI testing to teens, and Shakespeare in the Parks is back, along with Montana Pride.
I also reported on a new and different way to issue city bonds — with the state’s help.
Read more about that below.
But first, a weather preview ☀️
It looks like we get a bit of relief from the heat with a Monday high of 73 degrees and an overnight low of a cool 48 degrees, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Joseph Russell.
Tuesday temperatures will slightly rise with a high of 81 and a low of 50, while Wednesday will get right back up to a high of 91.
East Helena to consider new state program to back infrastructure spending
A lot has been happening in East Helena, if you didn’t know.
And I didn’t know.
Helena has kept me pretty busy, but I always appreciate it when sources give me a call or shoot me a text to loop me in or make sure I’m aware of important events or other news.
And last week, Helena Area Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Jacob Kuntz did exactly that with an update about the East Helena Rose Hills housing development.
East Helena will soon take a major step forward in advancing the Rose Hills project, potentially using a new state-backed financing tool, according to Kuntz.
Rose Hill is a planned, mixed-income neighborhood set to offer 1,500 homes, with at least 30% of its development reserved for affordable housing and the remaining properties listed at market prices.
But because this is a new addition to the city, significant infrastructure is needed.
As Kuntz broke it down for me, the city will take a vote within the next month to issue a municipal bond to fund road, water and wastewater infrastructure to serve the new development, at a cost of about $13.5 million.
But it’s not a typical municipal bond.
Last year, the state Legislature passed House Bill 505 , which essentially allows the Montana Board of Investments to assist communities in securing financing.
“ House Bill 505 created the option for [the] Montana Board of Investments to essentially step into a guarantor position of a municipal bond that would create neighborhoods that incorporated attainable housing,” Kunts told me in an interview last week.
“So instead of the city having to pledge its general fund, it essentially is the state stepping into that position.”
That means there would still be assessments for the bond, but only for the new property owners of Rose Hills, not for current residents of East Helena.
And if, for any reason, the assessments couldn’t be paid, the Board of Investments would step in to repay the bond.
“ It’s a really innovative, very interesting form of financing to help build affordable housing in a state that desperately needs housing, but critically needs infrastructure.
And so Rose Hills is a bit of a test case for this new financing method,” Kuntz said.
Kuntz added that this could be an opportunity to show other communities in the state with small tax bases that lack the resources of larger municipalities to create and sustain growth, especially in housing.
“ I think Montana is the only state that I know of that is trying something like this to be able to boost the housing stock,” Kuntz said.
“And so if it can be done in East Helena, we think it could be done in communities across the state to help build the housing that we need.”
East Helena City Councilman Wes Feist spoke with me further about what this bond means for his community and said that the new infrastructure will benefit both new and current residents.
Without state support, Feist said, the city wouldn’t be able to finance a bond for a project this costly without serious tax impacts on the community.
“ It’s important for all of us not to put the burden of new developments on the backs of our current residents,” Feist told me.
“In that subdivision, those residents will ultimately be the ones to pay back that bond, and they’re the only ones that are responsible for it as well.”
While there is no set meeting for the city council to vote on the bond, the city, Habitat for Humanity, the Board of Investments and the Glacier Corporation, the company that would finance the bond, are finalizing the funding approach and anticipate city action sometime in August, Kuntz said.
Erik Vilen, president of the Helena National Veterans Rodeo, reached out to let me know about the veterans’ rodeo and resource fair held this past Saturday at the Lewis and Clark Fairgrounds.
His comments about the event have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
HTW: Can you tell me a little bit about this rodeo?
Vilen: So the Helena National Veterans Rodeo and Resource Fair is a one-day event that really aims to bring community resources to veterans on a weekend.
I think it’s really important for working veterans and caregivers that work to be able to come to a place where resources are available.
Traditional resource fairs happen during the week, and oftentimes, working veterans or their family members can’t attend.
Part of this is bringing in community organizations and resources that veterans don’t typically think about.
For example, the Montana Farmers Veterans Coalition, Habitat for Humanity, Volunteers of America and other organizations that offer services for veterans that are not your typical Veteran Affairs, American Legion, VFW, which is what most people think of.
HTW: Why is there a focus on connecting vets to these resources, and how did you come up with this event?
Vilen: So, veterans can face a lot of different challenges, from employment to housing to financial assistance.
So what we are really striving to do here is cover a lot of these bases in one place with a variety of organizations to really try to make sure that veterans have a well-rounded opportunity that can address different challenges that they may have.
And then combine that, it’s fun to go to a rodeo.
It is really a very American experience honoring our American heroes.
This is the brainchild of one of my dear Army friends by the name of Eli Williamson.
Eli is the co-founder of Leave No Veteran Behind , which is a nonprofit organization focused on job training and placing veterans in jobs.
He called me and asked me to do this in Helena, and I said, “Absolutely, yes.
I will do my best to put on this rodeo our veterans and their families and really make sure we get community buy-in to make this sustainable and relevant for veterans and their families.”
HTW: What is your own experience and how does it play into this larger project?
Vilen: I’m an Army veteran, served in Iraq.
After I got back, I went to medical school and for a good portion of my career, I worked for the VA and had the opportunity to take care of veterans.
One of the things I realized through that is that, especially in a rural state like Montana, we really have to engage our community partners because the VA can’t be everywhere and can’t offer everything.
But there’s really good support in most of our communities for veterans, and they just don’t always know how to access it or find it.
Credit: Lauren Miller, Montana Free Pres
Last week, I attended a vigil put on by Indivisible Helena at Hill Park meant to honor the lives lost through federal immigration enforcement.
As part of that memorial, organizers also demonstrated the reported size of a room in a federal building that is being used to hold individuals detained in Helena by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The room is roughly 200 square feet and was used this summer as a cell for up to 17 people at a time, according to vigil organizers.
I reported on the holding center last month after some residents questioned whether the zoning regulations allowed the building to be used as a jail.
Teen clinic with testing for sexually transmitted infections
🗓️ Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 4, and every first and third Tuesday after
⏰ Between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
📍 Purview Health Center and LCPH at 1930 Ninth Ave.
ℹ️ LCPH, in partnership with Pureview and the Caring Foundation of Montana, will begin offering a teen clinic that is open to those 19 and under for STI testing.
The appointments are confidential and low- to no-cost.
Teens who get tested will also get a $15 gift card.
While walk-ins are available, teens can call (406) 457-8900 or text (406) 594-2949 to make an appointment.
August community listening session on unhoused neighbors
📍 Brothers Tapworks, 40 S.
Last Chance Gulch
ℹ️ As a part of the new, recurring public engagement event, the city’s next community listening session includes the discussion of Helena’s homeless community and how to work with area partners to support them.
🔁 The city hosts the sessions once a month.
🔗 Visit the Be Heard Helena website to see upcoming gatherings.
Arts & Culture: I truly haven’t given much thought to Shakespeare since high school, when my English teacher assigned “Macbeth.”
Well, this week is the perfect time to re-culture myself since Montana’s Shakespeare in the Parks is back in Helena.
The free shows — “Much Ado About Nothing” on Aug. 3 and “The Merchant of Venice” on Aug. 4 — begin at 6 p.m. at Anchor Park.
Montana Pride: It is Pride time in the Capital City , with a slew of events lined up this week.
I’m most looking forward to the showing of one of my all-time favorite films, “Too Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything!”
which will be playing Tuesday, Aug. 4, at the Myrna Loy.
You can check out the whole list of drag shows, community discussions and other happenings on the Montana Pride website .
The post Housing advocates hopeful about new state program appeared first on Montana Free Press .
Speakers
6speakers48%attributed speech905writer words
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100%flagged-word coverageIndivisible Helena
27 attributed words3.2% of attributed speech0.8% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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Analysis
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