HELENA — Marysue Henderson says she’s been on a waiting list for a housing voucher for a while, but Friday was her first day in her new home: the Twin Creek Apartments in Helena.
“Wonderful, just very exciting,” she said.
(Watch the video to hear more from Henderson and the developers of Twin Creek Apartments.)
Henderson is one of about 20 new residents who’ve already moved into the new affordable housing development on Helena’s east side. By around the end of 2025, developers hope to have 72 housing units operating.
On Friday morning, state and local leaders joined developers for a ribbon cutting.
“This development means more than just new buildings,” said Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins. “It means families have a place to call home, young professionals can plant roots, and our community becomes more inclusive and resilient.”
Tyson O’Connell founded United Housing Partners, the group behind the development. He’s worked on developments like this before, but this is his first project with UHP. He says it was clear there was a need – and an opportunity – for building affordable housing in Helena.
“In Helena after COVID, rents grew faster than any other place in the United States – you actually had the fastest rent growth of anywhere,” he said.
Twin Creek Apartments includes two buildings – one fully open and the other still a few months from completion. Technically, they’re two separate projects, funded separately. Apartments range from one bedroom to three bedrooms. They’ll serve people making less than 70% of the local median income, with some units reserved for those making less than 30% of the median.
Putting together the funding for the projects was complicated. Twin Creek received financial support from a huge range of sources, including federal tax credits distributed by the Montana Department of Commerce, money from the state coal trust and the city of Helena’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and even a loan from the Montana Healthcare Foundation.
O’Connell said, if UHP had only received the original tax credits, they would only have been able to produce 24 apartments. He said the additional funding sources allowed them to expand to 72. He hopes the partnerships that went into Twin Creek can serve a model for the future.
“This project and the resources that the state has brought to this project, we can take and use in other projects,” said O’Connell.
For people like Henderson, these apartments are about more than just space.
“Being able to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, having a washer and dryer, having extra storage – there’s just so much about it that's just so great,” she said.
“I just want to thank everybody that got this approved,” she added. “I’m just fortunate I got to be one of the lucky ones that got to be in here.”
