Missoula's Villagio Apartments fully open, making strides for affordable housing

MISSOULA — Affordable housing is a large issue in Missoula but, thanks to projects like the Villagio Apartments, a little bit of relief is here.

“I’m more relaxed. My breathing and everything has gotten better since being here” said Villagio resident Terry Larque who used to live in a trailer filled with mold.

“Wonderful, I’ve been here a long time, almost the whole time,” said Philis Fowler, another resident of the Villagio Apartments.

For those who helped oversee the whole process of getting the Vallagio Apartments built, finally seeing the apartments fully open, means more than just providing relief to the immediate residents.

“The Villagio Apartments are [a] critical part of the solution to solving the challenges we’re having with the lack of affordable housing and housing insecurity in this city. And just the volume that this amazing apartment complex brings is [a] substantial win” explained Homeword director Karissa Trujillo.

The affordable housing crisis in Montana is one of the worst in the country according to the Missoula Housing Authority (MHA) and the state was recently deemed the most expensive housing market in the country.

The problem, according to Oliver, came from out of state.

“During and after the pandemic, we had a lot of folks from other states with higher paying jobs that were now able to work remotely and work from a new location” explained MHA executive director Sam Oliver.

So that’s how we got here, but how does a project like the Villagio Apartments fit into the solution?

“This building, Villagio, is housing 600 people. 200 units, 600 people. That removes a whole lot of pressure off of other rentals and eases the increase in rental prices” said Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick.

According to the Missoula Organization of Realtors, the average price for a one-bedroom apartment in Missoula is nearly $1,200.

So, on top of the volume that the Villagio Apartments provide, they also help by having income-restricted units that are already filled. But what challenges remain?

“Economists would tell you it’s pretty simple, we just need to produce more housing. But for those of us housers and people in the industry we know that it’s not as simple as that. You have fluctuating factors of interest rates, and political campaigns, so on and so forth. So we don’t live inside a vacuum” Oliver told MTN.

But for residents, their housing challenges are as good as done.

“I know that if I leave, I always have a place to come home to” said Fowler.

While projects like the Villagio Apartments may not entirely solve the affordable housing crisis, they still provide some relief.