By Michael Howell
Work on a low income housing project in Hamilton, called Valley Villas, is set to begin next week. Helena developer Beki Glyde Brandborg of Echo Enterprises was in town last week to thank the City of Hamilton for its support in her application for a Department of Commerce Low Income Tax Credit award that will enable the renovation of three 34-year-old buildings on 10th and Pine Streets. Brandborg has deep family roots in the Bitterroot Valley and serves on the Bitterroot Task Force for Homelessness and Housing.
The Housing Credit requested is $327,654. The cost per unit is $131,683 and cost per square foot is $169.05. According to Brandborg, these are the only family units in Hamilton which receive a Rural Development subsidy and they contain no vacancies.
The roughly $6 million project to refurbish the old buildings includes the addition of insulation in the roofs, addition of a heat exchanger, weather proofing of all doors and windows, handicapped accessible improvements, and the installation of solar panels that could reduce tenants’ electrical bills to almost zero. Floors, walls and kitchens will also be fixed up. Although the general contractor for the project is located in Helena, Brandborg said that all the sub-contractors for the project would be from Ravalli County. Brandborg said that many of the current tenants, perhaps half of them, are seniors and most, but not all of them, are on social security and several are using wheelchairs. She said the 17 units located on ground level will be made 100% handicapped accessible.
According to Brandborg, who also serves on the Bitterroot Task Force for Homelessness and Housing, the work will be done in shifts involving only four of the existing 34 units at a time. Each of the tenants would be displaced for about four weeks and no rents would be raised. Rents are based on a percentage of income. Brandborg has committed to the Board of Housing to keep the units in good shape with maintenance and repairs over the next 40 years.
Brandborg said that her motivation to get involved in a low income housing project was a simple one: “Everybody deserves a nice place to live regardless of their circumstances.”
Fair market rent is established periodically by the Department of Housing and Urban Development based on rent surveys in the county. In Ravalli County, the fair market rent for various size units range from $536 per month for an efficiency apartment, $576 for a one-bedroom, $693 for a two-bedroom, $793 for 3 bedrooms, $865 for four bedrooms, $936 for five bedrooms and $1,007 for six bedrooms.