Gallatin County, United Housing Partners LLC (UHP), HRDC IX, and the City of Bozeman will host a groundbreaking ceremony at 805 Oak Park Drive on May 1 from 1 to 3 p.m., marking the start of construction of the Hidden Creek Community. The project marks a major step forward in expanding affordable housing in Gallatin County, transforming a vacant five-acre county-owned parcel within the City of Bozeman into a new neighborhood with both rental and homeownership opportunities.

“This project started as a County Commission brainstorming session and has now been in the works for more than five years,” reflected Gallatin County Commission Chair Zach Brown. “It is an incredible community accomplishment that we are finally breaking ground. This project represents an inspiring level of community partnership and ingenuity, born from the depths of our pandemic-era housing crisis. These units will provide dignified homes for working-class residents in perpetuity. On behalf of our organization and the people of Gallatin County, I am so grateful for this result.”

Hidden Creek Apartments, a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) development with 182 apartments, will be the key driver for the later development of a community land trust. The community land trust will include 9 "for sale" equity-restricted homes and an infrastructure-ready parcel that will remain under Gallatin County ownership for later community benefit.

“Hidden Creek provides a blueprint for how public-private partnerships can deliver affordable housing solutions to Montana communities. These projects are complex and require a large commitment from all parties…but if everyone works together, great things can happen,” said Seth O’Connell, Developer at UHP. “I hope the lessons we’ve learned at Hidden Creek will help bring similar successes across the state.”

Gallatin County donated the land and contributed $2.46 million in ARPA funds to get the Project through pre-development, and the City of Bozeman awarded another $2 million in Gallatin Impact Funds, while also providing development incentives as part of the City's Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO). UHP made the project financially feasible through a creative funding structure with 12 different sources of funding.

“Hidden Creek represents a meaningful step forward in ensuring more people in the Bozeman community can actually live where they also work. Through this partnership, homes will be affordable at a range of income levels, better meeting the needs of our local workforce. This is exactly the kind of collaborative, community-driven solution we need more of,” said Heather Grenier, President/CEO of HRDC IX.

The project will include five LIHTC apartment buildings, four with three stories and one four-story building with an elevator. The rental homes will benefit community members earning 30%, 60%, and 70% of Area Median Income (AMI). All forty of the 30% AMI apartments will have Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) thanks to Montana Housing and the Department of Commerce.

“We need housing like this that supports residents earning at lower income levels,” explained City of Bozeman Mayor Joey Morrison. “And we’ve only been able to get at these deeper levels of affordability because of things like donated land, financial subsidies, development incentives, and partnership and collaboration. We have all believed in this project from the start, and I’m eager to see it completed.”

The new neighborhood is now under construction, with leasing anticipated to start in July 2027.

More information on the project is available at https://www.gallatinmt.gov/communications/pages/gallatin-county-affordable-housing.