A free seminar on Affordable Housing was held in Kadoka at Jigger’s Restaurant on February 25, 2008. Individuals represented several communities to learn about issues and possible solutions regarding housing situations in rural South Dakota.
A representative of the Rural Housing Collaborative in Howard gave a presentation titled “Flipping the Switch – Why We Need to Rethink Rural Housing”. After summarizing the research findings, Rita discussed how rural communities need to come together as a whole village and “swim together” to solve complicated issues.
She provided a link with some interesting information: www.rethinkruralhousing.com. They also hope this site will become a useful tool to help communities avoid reinventing the wheel.
After a short break, we heard from an informed panel of speakers on various services and programs available to western South Dakota.
Marlene Knutson, executive director of the South Dakota Central Enhancement District shared her experiences with a successful house project in Lemmon when she was the Economic Development Coordinator there. She also discussed the Governor’s House program.
Mark Lauseng, executive director of the South Dakota Housing Authority, expanded on the Governor’s House program. The current price for a 1008 square foot home (delivered) is $33,000. He also discussed several different programs that assist low and moderate-income individuals/families obtain quality housing. Below-market interest rates, home improvement loans, down payment programs and the Governor’s House program are all programs that can help South Dakotans become homeowners. More information can be found at www.sdhda.org.
Joy McCracken, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of the Black Hills, discussed several interesting programs in their “Campaign for Home Ownership”. Some of those programs are Plant the Town, Paint the Town, Revolving Loan Funds and Block Clubs. They also offer many different education classes including homebuyer education courses, post-purchase classes which provide how-to and hands-on maintenance courses, and credit counseling to educate participants on living within their means. This organization originally began to benefit Black Hills communities, but now reaches most of western South Dakota. A plethora of information can be found at www.nhsblackhills.org.
Connie Gerard, rural development specialist with the USDA Rural Development Rural Housing Service, gave information on some different loan and grant programs. The 504 Home Repair Loan and Grant Program assists eligible, very low income home owners with repairs to their home. The Direct 502 Home Ownership Loan Program provides loans to low and very low income families to purchase an existing home, build a new home, purchase a new manufactured home from an approved dealer/contractor, or purchase and set up a Governor’s House. The Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan Program guarantees loans made by private lenders which allow eligible applicants to purchase a new or an existing home. All of these programs can be seen at www.rurdev.usda.gov/sd.
Finally, a representative of the New Underwood area talked about ways they developed housing and attracted individuals to their town by becoming a bedroom community to Rapid City. Brett had many interesting things to say and had words of wisdom on how things could be accomplished more easily than when they took on their first project.
The meeting ended with wide discussion on the problems facing several of the represented communities. While all the communities face the housing crisis, each situation is very unique and will require completely different procedures. It was reiterated that the housing problem could not be solved immediately, but that it would take lots of hard work and dedication to completing one project at a time.
Those representing Philip at the seminar were Kent Olson, Shirley Chin, Michelle Butler and Britni Ross.
