Resources | Montana Department of Commerce

Infrastructure Resources

Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF)

The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund provides at or below market interest rate loans to Montana municipalities, public or private community water systems and non-profit non-community water systems for projects that facilitate compliance with the national drinking water regulations.

INTERCAP

Montana Department of Commerce's Board of Investments INTERCAP Loan Program offers variable rate low-interest loans to School Districts for judgment, new and used vehicles, new and used equipment, real property purchase and improvements, energy retrofit projects, and interim financing and cash-flow. Repayment options include energy cost savings, general fund payments, and a building reserve fund.

Water Pollution Control, State Revolving Fund (WPCSRF)

The Montana Legislature established the Water Pollution Control State Revolving Fund (WPCSRF) Loan Program for water pollution control projects. Schools can utilize this program for low interest loans for septic system removals or upgrades.

W2ASACT

W2ASACT is a group of stakeholders working on water, wastewater, and solid waste projects whom meet quarterly to discuss projects and group goals.

Midwest Assistance Program

Midwest Assistance Program (MAP) offers communities and tribal nations a wealth of skills and approaches to help them creatively solve their problems. MAP is dedicated to working side-by-side with small, rural communities and tribal nations to find creative, innovative and local solutions to their problems. MAP helps communities find solutions in the areas of capacity building, compliance, disaster management, management and finance, operations and maintenance, planning and development, and much more.

Community Facility Resources

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development

The USDA Rural Development program provides Community Facility Grants to assist in the development of essential community facilities (such as schools) in rural areas and towns of up to 20,000 in population.

HUD Community Investment Tool

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today unveiled the Community Assessment Reporting Tool (CART) – an innovative reference and mapping tool created to help answer the question, “How is HUD investing in my community?” CART provides a snapshot of HUD investments across a community, cutting the time it takes to generate this information from several business days to minutes.

CART uses geospatial technology to show the wide variety of HUD investments by city, state, county, metropolitan area, or congressional district. It also provides an interactive mapping interface that allows users to explore HUD investments within their community and see property- and grant-level detail at a variety of geographies.

“This tool provides real-time information on HUD investments in communities across the country with just a few clicks,” said HUD Secretary Julián Castro. “In today’s 21st century global economy where information is needed almost immediately, HUD is committed to making our resources more accessible and easier to find.”

CART includes information on many of HUD’s major programs invested in communities across the country including:

Community Planning and Development Competitive and Formula Grants
Rental Assistance through HUD's Multifamily programs, Housing Choice Vouchers and Public Housing properties
Housing Counseling
Signature programs – Promise Zones, Strong Cities Strong Communities and Rental Assistance Demonstration.
Census demographic information

Advancing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Recipients HOME and CDBG grants are encouraged to integrate renewable energy generation and energy efficiency measures in their projects. These measures helps reduce energy costs, which can facilitate improved operations and maintenance, and HUD released a toolkit to help grantees integrate renewable energies into their project

HUD and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a goal of generating 300 MW of energy through renewables for low-and-moderate income housing by 2020, and broadening the goal to include community and shared solar installations. More information on HUD’s Renew 300 initiative can be found online here.

HUD also released a toolkit to help HOME and CDBG grantees integrate renewable energies into their projects that can be found on HUD’s website here.

Davis-Bacon Wage Determinations

wage determinations can be found HERE
Following are the links to the Current, Advance Notice, and Archived State of Montana General Decision County Index for Davis-Bacon.

Section 3 and DBE/MBE/WBE

Section 3, a provision of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, ensures that employment and training opportunities arising in connection with Section 3 covered projects are, to the greatest extent feasible, and consistent with existing federal, state, and local laws and regulations, provided to Section 3 workers (i.e., workers who are low- or very low-income, employed by a Section 3 business concern, or participants of YouthBuild). Where feasible, priority is given to Section 3 workers living within the service area or the neighborhood of the project or to YouthBuild participants. Section 3 covered activities include housing rehabilitation, housing construction, and other public construction.

Section 281 of the National Affordable Housing Act requires that recipients of HUD financial assistance reach out to disadvantaged, minority, and women-owned business enterprises (DBE/MBE/WBE) for all contracting activities facilitating the provision of affordable housing authorized under federal law.

Section 3 and DBE/MBE/WBE covered projects may be funded by one or a combination of the following federal sources administered by the Montana Department of Commerce: the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Program, or the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

The July 2021 (final rule) version of this toolkit applies to Section 3 covered projects with funds committed on or after November 30, 2020. The October 2019 (interim rule) version of this toolkit applies to Section 3 covered projects with funds committed before November 30, 2020.

Final Rule: