2025 Year in Review
Director’s Letter
Dear Neighbors,
Thank you for coming along with us for another year of major growth, transition, and impact. This year, we expanded our service area to meet Missoula’s expansive need for affordable homeownership, and we embraced a new name — Front Step CLT — that better reflects our continued commitment to building community power, thriving neighborhoods, and affordable homes in all corners of our town. Most importantly, we celebrated the life and work of our founder and friend, Bob Oaks, whose vision and deep care for neighbors continue to guide us forward.
We also welcomed Kate Whittle and Shibu Arens, bringing our full-time staff to five focused and passionate individuals. With this added capacity, we’re fighting for smart, equitable housing policy and lifting up the stories that show why community land trusts are an essential part of Missoula’s future.
Even as the housing market cools, affordable homeownership continues to be out of reach for many neighbors. Limited supply, particularly of homes that working people can afford, continues to push people out of core neighborhoods, leaving them vulnerable to gentrification and displacement. These challenges make our work and your support more essential than ever.
Looking ahead, 2026 will bring the first wave of new homeowners at the Ravara development on the Northside, where over 45 new community land trust homes are under construction. Our expanded team will prepare us for the 2027 legislative session, and with support from a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, we’ll conduct a major survey of renters in working class neighborhoods to strengthen anti-displacement efforts and grow the resident-owned cooperative housing.
Thank you for being a part of this mission, the momentum, and our community.
I wish you and yours a warm, festive, and joyful holiday season.
Brittany Palmer
Executive Director, Front Step Community Land Trust
Entering a new chapter
Thank you to our dedicated board members.. and the friendly dog who crashed our photo session!
Thank you, Ethel!
We are honored to be one of the many organizations in Missoula reached by the incredible generosity of Ethel MacDonald (1938- 2025). This summer, Ethel sold us a rental home for below-market rate so we could place it into the community land trust. Her generosity will keep families affordably housed for generations to come.
Homeowner Highlight
This fall, we noted a new milestone in our homeowner program as we welcomed John and Becky to the Burns Street Commons. They are second generation CLT homeowners, since John’s parents own one of the first CLT homes we developed in the early 2000s.
“We almost didn’t apply for this house since we had a great apartment,” Becky says.
“The timing was fortunate because we had a roof leak at our apartment and would’ve been displaced for many more months. I’m really glad we applied.”
More news…
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It was a great year for building community and grassroots resilience! Missoula Outdoor Cinema marked 22 years with screenings and block parties at Headstart, Franklin to the Fort and the Missoula County Fairgrounds.
We also joined in the Housing Night at the Ballpark and hosted the Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition Regional Gathering.
Most recently, we saw over 125 registered participants for the workshops at the November Neighborhood Resiliency Day. We’re feeling so grateful for how much community love and power we felt building skills, sharing food, and planting seeds of solidarity. Special shoutout to our incredible community partners, artists, and neighbors who collaborated on the event.
In coming months, we’re excited to get folks more connected to organizing and cultivate more resilient neighborhoods.
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The Ravara Homes development on the Northside is the biggest project in the history of our organization!
About half of the 89 units will be listed below market rate and reserved for households earning up to 120 percent of the Area Median Income.
Several studios and 2-bedrooms are coming online in early 2026! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter at frontstepclt.org and tell your friends who might be house-hunting.
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Many got to know Bob through his extensive organizing to establish a pedestrian bridge that would reconnect the Northside to downtown. We are excited to share that we’re working with a group of Northsiders and the city parks department to commemorate Bob’s contributions by renaming the pedestrian bridge in his honor.
More updates to come through our socials and newsletter!
In memory of Bob Oaks
This year, we were so sad to lose our friend, mentor, organizational founder, and former Executive Director Bob Oaks.
Bob’s determination to make Missoula, especially the Northside neighborhood, a place for all neighbors to thrive leaves a legacy where his impact can be found in almost any corner of town.
Around Missoula, neighbors benefit from the projects he championed and advocated for including the Northside Pedestrian Bridge, Westside Park, MUD’s Tool Library, the Moon- Randolph Homestead, the Burns Street Community Center, the cleanup of White Pine Sash, and the development of over 60 Community Land Trust homes.
We laughed and cried with the amazing folks who turned out for Bob’s celebration of life in September at Moon-Randolph Homestead, and we’re grateful to be part of a community that seeks to continue his legacy of causing good trouble.
Front Step CLT leads ProHousing Missoula. This coalition of Missoulians is committed to building knowledge and power around housing and transportation to drive smart policy change.
In 2025, the ProHousing Missoula advocates:
Traveled to several conferences
Met with city staff and elected officials to advocate for better policy
Held the ProZoning Crash Course for city candidates and council
Commissioned a scientific poll that shows most Missoulians support pro-housing policy
See more about the ProHousing Poll Results!
