The Montana Home Choice Coalition: It’s All About Relationships
Michael M. O’Neil, State Director of the Montana Home Choice Coalition, describes how building strong housing collaboratives can lead to homeownership for people with disabilities.


In the five years since its inception, Montana Home Choice Coalition direct efforts have developed $13.5 million in new housing resources and opportunities for persons and families with disabilities in Montana: creating nearly 50 new homeowners, opening 36 new community living opportunities for persons previously living in institutions, supporting the development of dozens of new community integrated rental units, addressing the housing needs of the chronically homeless, introducing new flexible financing options for both homeownership and community rental housing, providing housing counseling to hundreds of individuals and families, and leading the way in promoting innovative accessible housing design in all housing types.

The Coalition shares the common purpose of creating better community housing choices for all people with disabilities by working through a coalition of Montana citizens, advocates, providers of services and affordable housing; federal, state, tribal, and local housing and service agencies, home builders, realtors and the housing finance community. The Coalition is led by A.W.A.R.E. Inc.

The Coalition’s successes to date are the result of the collaboration and cooperation of numerous partners and Coalition members across the state of Montana. With such a big task, to be successful the Coalition has worked to engage the whole housing community into better meeting the housing needs and wishes of individuals and families with disabilities. As the old saying goes, many hands make for light work-no one entity could achieve what many working together in common purpose has achieved.

In Montana, it’s all about relationships. Our Coalition is built around the sharing of relationships within each Coalition members’ unique network and constituency to complete the work involved in achieving our common goals and to share pertinent information.

Montana feels like a small town spread out over its 145,552 square miles. In the Montana disability and affordable housing world, we work through issues on a one or two degrees of separation basis- if I do not know someone it’s a good likelihood someone involved in the Coalition can introduce me and open the door for what we are trying to achieve or resolve. When you’re friend of a friend, you certainly can get a lot more done than when you are a stranger. Of course it helps to have the right friends. The Montana Home Choice Coalition has been blessed with many.

Our lead agency, A.W.A.R.E. Inc. is Montana’s leader in providing community based disability services with over 30 years of experience opening up community life opportunities for persons with disabilities; providing us a statewide presence with over 800 employees and offices throughout the state and an organizational culture encouraging questioning the status quo. A.W.A.R.E. provides the Coalition the backing that makes the difference between simply a good idea and getting the job done.

Fannie Mae has provided critical organizational and financial support, and most importantly credibility to our fledgling efforts. The Montana HomeOwnership Network, a part of the national NeighborWorks network, took us in under their wing to provide access to high-quality training, and sharing their expertise, capacity, and resources opening up affordable homeownership to persons with disabilities along with supporting other housing goals of the disability community. The Montana Department of Commerce Housing Division and our Housing Finance agency the Montana Board of Housing have embraced the housing needs and aspirations of persons with disabilities as among its highest priorities. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (MT DPHHS) provides linkages to service providers and the persons they serve, along with early access to federal Systems Change funding critical to our formation, and partnered with the Coalition on Olmstead Housing Initiatives. The Developmental Disabilities Program of MT DPHHS showed great leadership embracing the idea of homeownership for those its serves bolstering homeowners’ dreams of homeownership with additional home financing resources. HUD and USDA Rural Development have proven to be important partners in terms of their critical housing program resources, staff support, and willingness to partner on training initiatives. Advocacy organizations, private sector lenders, builders, and realtors are vital Coalition members. Our local non-profit housing providers including human resource development councils and local public housing authorities are key on the ground partners in communities across the state.

Frequently, on a single housing transaction we will have involved the resources of three to five Coalition partners to achieve the specific housing activity. Looking back over our five years of operations, we realize we have gotten by with more than a little bit of help from our friends. To learn more about the Montana Home Choice Coalition please visit their website at: www.montanahomechoice.org