MISSOULA — The Missoula YWCA's new Meadowlark facility is currently under construction and when completed, will serve at-risk populations. But without a federal tax credit program, the new facility might never have gotten off the ground.
Construction is continuing on the new family housing center and domestic violence shelter thanks in part to a federal program called the New Markets Tax Credit, which was the final piece to financing this great project.
“New Markets Tax Credits is a federal tax credit, US treasury and the IRS oversee it. And it is meant to incentivize development in low income areas across the United States. To date, in Montana alone, MoFi has financed $330 million worth of new market tax credits projects,” MoFi President Dave Glaser explained.
MoFi takes those new market tax credits and sells them to investors, creating cash assets these projects can then use, “without the tax credit financing a lot of the projects most of the time wouldn’t move forward at all,” Glaser said.
“Our project would not have happened without the New Market Tax Credits. It provided crucial funding and allowed us to break ground on time., and complete this project by this time next year,” Missoula YWCA Executive Director Cindy Weese told MTN News.
She added that projects like the Meadowlark facility are important to helping some of Missoula’s at risk populations.
“It’s really important for us to start this project as soon as possible because we have homeless families who are on a waiting list right now for housing. And the longer it takes to build this new facility, the longer they will wait.”
The tax credit program is a tool to help fund community projects, but its longevity might by in question.
“Currently this tax credit program needs to be extended and senators Tester and Daines both really support this program and have for a long time,” Glaser said. But ultimately, we need congress to move forward and extend it again.”
The New Market Tax Credit program helped fund $12 million for the new YWCA facility.
