affordable housing
Baucus, Engen Praise Burns Street Commons
By Kaylee Porter and Alexia Beckerling, 8-14-08
Senator Max Baucus and Missoula Mayor John Engen cut a red ribbon at the opening of the Burns Street Commons affordable housing project Wednesday afternoon. This is the third affordable housing project developed by the North-Missoula Community Development Corp. since it opened its doors in 2000.
The brightly colored, 17-unit housing complex, located at 1400 Burns, is available to first-time homebuyers who otherwise might not be able to afford a home. Those who make 80 percent of the Missoula median income, which is $31,000 for a single person, $35,450 for a couple and $39,850 for a family of three are eligible and three units have already been sold.
“It takes vision to get from the mud lot that was here even as little as a year ago to where we are today,” Engen said.
Senator Max Baucus applauds the community spirit he sees on the North Side of Missoula and emphasizes the importance of people working together.
“Nothing of consequence ever happens unless people work together,” Baucus said. “Here with the cooperation of [NMCDC executive director] Bob Oaks, Mayor John Engen, the city council and others we were able to get this federal money for the project.”
Baucus is referring to the $1 million federal appropriation NMCDC has received to help with the neighborhood’s two-year improvement project. The project includes turning the rundown freight building adjacent to the Burn Street Commons in to a community center and expanding the Missoula food co-op, which already occupies part of the building.
After the ceremony, Andrea Graham takes a look at a house within the complex. Graham bought one of the first houses at Whittier Court built by the North-Missoula Development Corp. in 2002. Buying an affordable home enabled Graham to enter the housing market and purchase a bigger home three years later. “We could not have done it without that,” says Graham.
For more information on Burns Street Commons, visit www.nmcdc.org/lspburns.html.
Photos by Alexia Beckerling.
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