SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It’s news many South Dakota communities have been waiting for for months.
This week, Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill approving $200 million in loans and grants for housing infrastructure in South Dakota.
Communities from Rapid City to Sioux Falls and Yankton to Aberdeen will all get a share if they show South Dakota needs workers, but in order to get workers to move here from out of state, we need to have housing.
The 200 million dollars approved by the legislature is designed to help spur more home building. Sioux Falls and Rapid City will split 30 percent or $60 million of the total. $140 million will go to other communities across the state like Yankton.
Community development Director Dave Mingo says there are currently projects in the works in the southeast South Dakota city that could move forward because of this money.
“Workforce housing in Yankton is in the same situation as other communities in the state, we have a tremendous need for housing, our housing construction has been ahead of average for three or four years but it’s still not keeping up with demand. But it’s going to take a number of public private partnerships to access those dollars and help spur some local housing development,” said Mingo.
“In Yankton, even a town this size with our major employers needing between six and eight hundred folks to come to town to go to work that’s how many jobs they have open and what we are hearing is one of the biggest impediments to recruiting that workforce is just a lack of housing.”
Logan Penfield, the Housing Development Manager with City of Sioux Falls, says the funding won’t solve the housing shortage, but it will help.
“There are no home runs when you are talking about addressing housing in the city it is just a lot of singles. So this will take steps to address those problems and hopefully make an immediate impact for a lot of families in the Sioux Falls area,” said Penfield.
The legislation includes provisions to release the money right away.
“Using that money for infrastructure can drive down the costs of lots. Right now the cost of lots is really driving up the total cost that families pay at the end of things,” said Penfield.
Developers and cities are waiting to see what rules they have to follow to qualify for the funds.