Habitat for Humanity dedicated four new townhomes in Columbia Falls last week and has six more under construction on Railroad Street.

It’s currently taking applications for one of the homes on Railroad Street, noted executive director MaryBeth Morand.

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit dedicated to building homes for working-class families. It keeps costs down through low mortgage rates, volunteer labor and homeowners must also provide “sweat equity” by helping build their homes.

The agency also caps the amount of equity a homeowner will have in a house, to keep the homes affordable for the next buyer.

The townhomes will be new homes for the Nicosia, Ellman, Contreras, and Goff families.

“A lot of sweat, blood and tears went into building these homes,” noted Michael Nicosia.

Jessia Rice, speaking for her cousin, Brian Ellman, noted the program has been a Godsend, providing a stable place to live. 

Ellman couldn’t attend the ceremony, he had to work, so Rice spoke in his stead. The event was attended by about 50 people, including a host of volunteers who helped build the townhomes at the corner of Sixth Avenue West and Eighth Street West. Home construction started less than a year ago and included one four-bedroom townhome, one three bedroom and two, two-bedroom homes. Volunteer Betsy Kohnstamm noted that volunteers are needed to not just build homes, but to also help with mentoring, assisting families with childcare so they can work, or helping them figure out budgets and financing.

The homes on Railroad Street are expected to be done by year’s end, Morand noted.

They were made possible through a cooperative partnership with the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust and the city of Columbia Falls. It used to be a city park/baseball field.

Families interested in applying for the Railroad Street home are urged to visit habitatflathead.org/homeownership. Deadlineis Aug. 15.

Morand said the nonprofit is always looking for land donations as well. People interested can contact her at [email protected]. All told, Habitat has built 29 homes in Columbia Falls and has projects in Kalispell and Whitefish in the works as well.