The First Steps to Your Front Door
Affordable homeownership is possible with community-powered solutions.
How Community Land Trusts Work:
When you purchase a home through Front Step CLT, you’re buying the home—not the land. Leasing the land from us makes homeownership more affordable for you, and keeping the house at a fair price makes homeownership a reality for the generations to come.
Our Properties
-
Built in 2002
5 Homes
Number of bedrooms: 2 to 3
Front Step’s first development, Whittier Court features five two- and three-bedroom single family homes in the Northside neighborhood. Development involved the rehabilitation and restoration of an existing 1940s era house and the construction of four additional detached single family homes on the same property. Since its completion, Whittier Court has become a model for affordable housing projects, winning an award from the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission for “Sympathetic Infill Development in a Historic Neighborhood”.
-
Built in 2006
25 homes
Number of bedrooms: 2 to 3
Located along the Clark Fork River and Riverfront Trail System on the north side of the river between Russell and California Street. This unique location provides homeowners with bike/pedestrian access to many conveniences essential to healthy living, leaving residents just minutes via foot or bike from important infrastructure such as the Missoula Carousel, Dragons Hollow Park, McCormick Park, Historic Downtown Missoula, and several amenities such as a large grocery store, St. Patrick’s hospital, and the neighborhood elementary school.
-
Built in 2008
17 townhomes
Number of bedrooms: 1, 2, and 3
Burns Street Commons was constructed with energy efficiency in mind and is located in Missoula’s historic Westside neighborhood. It includes townhomes of various configurations and is adjacent to the Burns Street Center, a community-oriented commercial Front Step’s office is located here, in addition to three local business tenants: the Western Montana Growers Co-op, Plant Perks, and Burns Street Bistro. Burns St. Commons conveniently sits two blocks from the City bus stop.
-
Built in 2019
7 homes
Number of bedrooms:
5 two-bedroom homes
2 four-bedroom homes
Lee Gordon Place consists of seven townhomesin Missoula’s fast-changing Heart of Missoula/Downtown neighborhood. Lee Gordon Place is located across the street from the new library site, adjacent to Kiwanis Park, and two blocks from the Missoula Children’s Theater. This project was made possible by the Lee Gordon family’s generous donation of the land to Front Step CLT in 2015.
-
Built by Habitat for Humanity Missoula in 2025, these homes mark our first partnership of Habitat homes in the Front Step CLT.
Front Step purchased a former rental home on the property and worked with Habitat on an infill development project to build three additional homes on the lot!Learn more about this innovative sustainable project here!
-
Missoula and Montana’s first limited-equity housing cooperative!
When their rentals went up for sale, eight households came together to collectively purchase their homes. They now work together to set their monthly housing costs, prioritize maintenance and repairs, and ensure affordable housing is available in this historic Northside property for years to come!
Learn more here!
-
14 homes in the River Road neighborhood were converted to cooperative ownership in 2023!
This cooperative consists of multiple duplexes, single-family homes and manufactured homes. Together, they make collective decisions about housing costs, maintenance, and future co-op membership.
Learn more about this co-op here!
-
This exciting project includes 89 home ownership units on a 3-acre Community Land Trust. Approximately 47 homes will be income restricted for households earning 120 percent of Area Median Income and below. The adjacent 5 acres is master planned for up to 220 housing units and an estimated 30,000 square feet of commercial space.
Construction of the first phase of Community Land Trust homes is expected to continue through summer of 2026, with the first townhomes expected to be completed by early 2026.
Stay updated on the development here!
Interested in buying your building with your neighbors as a co-op? Or in selling your rental building to your tenants?
Check out this documentary on two Front Step CLT housing co-ops and reach out to hannah@frontstepclt.org for more!
Homeownership Assistance
-
Own a CLT home.
Navigate the process of purchasing a home with community-powered guidance.
-
Buy With Your Neighbors.
Join forces with your neighbors to co-own property, sharing costs and decisions.
-
Get Homeowner Support.
Find answers you need about utilities, property maintenance, taxes, and selling your CLT home.