COVID-Era Montana Emergency Rental Assistance Fund Coming to a Successful Close
In 2021, Montana received funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Act for the Montana Emergency Rental Assistance Program, administered by the Montana Department of Commerce. Montana’s initial appropriation for MERA was $152 million, to be allocated in three separate tranches. With this funding, thousands of Montanans were aided in their recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The statute governing the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program required the Treasury to identify funds for reallocation from amounts allocated to eligible grantees. Beginning on March 31, 2022, the Treasury had to “reallocate funds allocated to eligible grantees… but not yet paid,” according to a procedure established by the Treasury. Montana was subject to these involuntary reallocations and ultimately received $105.4 million.
Services through MERA included past due and future rent, utility and internet services; past due rent late fees; unpaid rental security deposit; rental application and screening fees; housing stability services; the Montana Eviction Intervention Program; and other eligible uses. From MERA’s launch to its end in 2023, over 14,000 households received financial assistance equating to over $136.6 million in support for rent, utilities and internet.
With the remaining MERA funding, Commerce continues to offer eviction prevention services through a contract with Montana Legal Services Association and Housing Stability Supports, a form of housing case management, through a memorandum of understanding with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Over 15,000 Montana households received Housing Stability Supports through June 2025, equating to approximately $3.9 million in financial assistance in 54 of Montana’s 56 counties. The expenditure deadline for MERA is Sept. 30, 2025.
Commerce is also using approximately $5.8 million for MERA’s “Other Eligible Uses,” described in FAQ No. 46 of the Treasury’s ERA Program. The statute provides that a grantee may use any of its ERA funds that were unobligated on Oct. 1, 2022, for “affordable rental housing and eviction prevention purposes, as defined by the Secretary, serving very low-income families…” Eligible uses include:
- The construction, rehabilitation or preservation of affordable rental housing projects
- The acquisition of real property for the purpose of constructing, rehabilitating or preserving affordable rental housing projects
- Predevelopment activities that enable the construction, rehabilitation or preservation of affordable rental housing projects
- The operation of affordable rental housing projects
Because these MERA funds must be paired with certain other federal funding, Commerce went through a competitive process with recipients of those federal programs and selected seven projects to be partially funded using the remaining MERA funds:
- Rehabilitation of Queen City Estates in Helena
- New construction of Riverview Apartments in Big Sky
- New construction of Rocky Mountain Flats in Bozeman
- Rehabilitation of Summit Apartments in Livingston
- Rehabilitation of Hearthstone in Anaconda
- New construction of Samaritan House in Kalispell
- New construction of Skalkaho Apartments in Hamilton
With the MERA period of performance coming to an end, all funding must be expended, and work funded through MERA must be completed by Sept. 30, 2025.
For more information about Commerce’s Housing MT Division programs and services, visit commerce.mt.gov/housing.
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