Helena mayor outlines housing, safety and staffing priorities for 2026

Newly elected Mayor Emily Dean used her first State of the City address Jan. 13 to frame city priorities for 2026 around housing, public safety and keeping municipal services staffed and stable. Dean, who took office Jan. 1 after six years on the Helena City Commission, presented a recap of accomplishments and a roadmap for the year ahead.

“The state of our city is strong, and our future is full of possibility,” Dean said, summarizing an agenda that emphasizes managing rapid growth while protecting affordability and service quality. Over the last 12 months, city officials issued more than 3,500 new building permits and adopted a new land use plan intended to guide development patterns and infrastructure investments.

Dean highlighted the Twin Creek Apartments as a test case in the city’s housing strategy, noting the project received the first major investment from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. “These efforts will ensure Helena remains a place where people of all incomes can live and thrive,” she said, signaling the trust fund will be a primary tool for local affordable housing policy going forward.

Public safety figures were a central part of the address. Dean reported the Helena Police Department responded to almost 28,000 calls for service in 2025 while the Helena Fire Department handled roughly 5,000 incidents. The city also signaled progress toward building a third fire station on the north side, a capital investment aimed at reducing response times as neighborhoods expand northward. “This summer and fall, it was hard to go anywhere in Helena without seeing crews at work,” Dean said, describing visible infrastructure projects across the city.

To maintain service levels, the mayor stressed investments in municipal staffing. The city budget included benefits and cost-of-living adjustments to retain employees, an acknowledgement of labor market pressures facing local government. “Great public services depend on great public employees,” Dean said, framing personnel retention as central to sustaining public safety, utilities and other core functions.

Policy implications for residents include continued capital spending on facilities and roads, targeted housing subsidies through the trust fund and budgetary pressure to fund staffing and new infrastructure such as the proposed fire station. Institutional challenges will include balancing growth management under the new land use plan with fiscal constraints and ensuring the Affordable Housing Trust Fund delivers measurable units for lower-income households.

Dean closed by setting 2026 as a year for implementation rather than planning: “With continued focus, collaboration and innovation, we are building a Helena that not only is a special place to live today, but an exceptional city for generations to come,” she said. For residents, the coming months will reveal how those commitments translate into completed housing projects, staffing stability and the next phases of capital work that will define everyday services and neighborhood safety.