Helena may rescue the city's struggling YWCA shelter with a $25,000 loan to help pay for a badly needed boiler.

The organization, which offers temporary shelter for women in transition or in crisis, has had a tumultuous year. The group put its historic building on the market this summer, only to later pull the 90-year-old facility off the auction block. The nonprofit's volunteer board also has seen some turnover in recent months.

But a loan from the city would keep the organization's Park Avenue building warm through the winter and allow the group to continue working toward fiscal sustainability and improved women's services, board members told city commissioners during an administrative meeting Wednesday.

The city may shuffle $25,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to the organization as a loan, taking money from two other projects: the Montana Youth Home's new facility and a building for the Center for Mental Health. If the CDBG funding goes to the YWCA, officials said, commissioners would allocate cash reserves to the other projects.

Officials explored methods of loaning tax funds to the organization, but they couldn't come up with a viable option.

"This (CDBG money) is the only available funding that the commission has to assist the Y," City Manager Tim Burton said.

The YWCA has raised about half the cost of the new boiler, which has been ordered. The remaining cost would be covered by the city's loan.

If commissioners approve the loan in concept Monday night, city officials will begin hammering out the terms of the contract, which would return to commissioners for final approval. The details of the loan arrangement haven't yet been worked out, Burton said, because he didn't want to move without getting a green light from the commission.

That thumbs-up may come Monday, but Mayor Jim Smith shared several concerns and suggestions with officials Wednesday. He wanted to be assured of the YWCA's ability to repay the loan, and he asked whether board members plan to return to the city in the future to ask for more money to rehabilitate the aging facility.

Smith also suggested the city and the YWCA board may want to explore a lease arrangement to better handle capital improvements in the future. Two board members said they were interested in hearing more about the proposal.

Smith said he is committed to improving services for struggling women in Helena, but Smith said he wasn't sure the Park Avenue facility was the best home for the organization because of the amount of ongoing maintenance that will be needed there.

Other commissioners were supportive of the loan idea.

"This is just great on so many public-policy levels," Commissioner Sandy Oitzinger said.

YWCA board members told commissioners they're working for the ongoing improvement of the organization and its facility. While the group has run out of money in the past, current board members are committed to ensuring the Y doesn't continue to have funding problems.

"We are vested in building this Y," board member Christine Mandiloff said. "We are committed to doing this work.

"We are committed to making this a self-sustaining entity," she added.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com