JSDC board approves $1 million for housing grant program
The funding is contingent on approval of Senate Bill 2225 in the state Legislature. The bill was approved in the Senate and is now in the House.
SB 2225 establishes the Housing for Opportunity, Mobility and Empowerment (HOME) grant program in the North Dakota Department of Commerce. The Commerce Department would award grants to political subdivisions to build infrastructure to support affordable market-rate housing. The grant program would be funded one time and ends on June 30, 2027.
SB 2225 would appropriate $50 million to the program. The Commerce Department would allocate $10 million for communities with a population of 5,000 or less, $20 million for communities with a population of 5,001 to 20,000 and $5 million for rural metropolitan areas located within 20 miles of city limits of a community with more than 20,000 people.
The program provides grant dollars for one-third of the infrastructure costs for residential development projects. The local political subdivision and the developer of the residential lots would each provide one-third of the costs for residential development projects.
In related business, the JSDC board unanimously approved deobligating $500,000 for a housing program for the development of residential lots within Jamestown city limits. The $500,000 was reallocated to use as matching dollars for the HOME grant program.
The JSDC's housing program has not been used by any developers.
If the $1million in funds are not used for the HOME grant program, they will return to the JSDC and go back into the economic development fund, said Corry Shevlin, CEO of JSDC.
Although SB 2225 has not passed both chambers in the Legislature, Shevlin recommended approval of the forgivable loan to the city of Jamestown because the bill contains an emergency clause that would immediately fund the program once it is signed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong.
"There is an emergency clause on it, which is another reason that we're seeing this today versus next month or after session just so we have the ability to move quickly and not lose a construction season," Shevlin said.
Shevlin said the HOME grant program would be used to develop residential lots within Jamestown city limits. He said dollars could be leveraged from the HOME grant program for projects outside of city limits if it makes sense.
"There are some pretty significant differences in what it takes to stand up a residential development in the city versus outside the city," he said.
He said additional costs in city limits include sewer, paved roads and curb and gutter.
Using the HOME program would reduce the cost by two-thirds to develop residential lots in Jamestown. Shevlin said those lot prices would need to reflect that cost saving to the end buyer.
How special assessments on a developed lot would be paid back will need to be negotiated between the developer and the city of Jamestown, he said.
Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said a special assessment should be paid off when each lot is sold so the end buyer is purchasing a lot with no special assessments.
"It would have to be in the lot price," he said.
Shevlin said a minimum of five residential lots would need to be developed using the HOME program and the agreements for residential lot development would be between the city of Jamestown and the developer. He said anywhere from 35 to 55 lots could be developed with the program.
He said developed lots are needed for all types of housing including multi-family and single-family residences. He said larger residential lots are needed for bigger houses that can be used to recruit doctors or other professionals to Jamestown.
Heinrich said residential lots that could be developed are in east, northeast and southwest Jamestown.
In 2021, the JSDC Board approved a request for $50,000 to contract preliminary engineering for cost estimates to proposed housing development sites. The cost of the preliminary engineering report completed by Interstate Engineering was $30,000.
Interstate Engineering prepared the preliminary engineering report that includes existing conditions for five locations — Beverly Hills Sixth Addition, Horizon Estates First Addition and Schumacher Acres, Loose Bypass Subdivision, Looysen Scenic View Estates and the Meadows Addition — for potential development that would require additional city water and sanitary sewer infrastructure. The report analyzed the city's existing infrastructure that would connect to the proposed development locations and reviewed sanitary sewer and water mains.
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