Workforce housing development continues to dominate the discussion in economic and community development circles throughout Nebraska and in most of rural America.

It impacts a community’s ability to sustain itself, grow its economy, recruit new employers, increase its population and help fill empty jobs that existing employers have created.   Many believe, how a community addresses its housing situation and the challenges that go with it, will determine its long term future.

Current economies are also often measured by “housing starts” because of the immediate impact it has on local purchasing and local businesses being impacted by those developments.  The North Platte Area Chamber and Development Corporation’s “Shot in the Arm” housing incentive program has impacted an impressive list of 80 local businesses.

That impact has been just through the construction stage of the program.  Once houses are sold, then another level of local businesses are impacted by purchasing of the furnishings, amenities and services, which makes the program even more meaningful to the local business community.

The local economic impact is then enhanced even further by those additional new families that join the community.

North Platte Chamber and Development leaders a few years ago began brainstorming about the issue and why the community was lagging behind its peer communities in building new houses. Speculative housing (not custom pre-sold) was almost non-existent.  There were numerous reasons that were identified as part of the housing problem.  This led to the creation of the “Shot in the Arm” housing incentive program.

Most state or federal housing programs in recent years enticed developers by offering grant funding and tax credits for the construction of “low income” and “low and moderate income” restricted housing.   Only the speculative market (not pre-sold custom homes) was dealing with market rate “work force” housing needs and it was getting increasingly more challenging for developers to make the numbers work to match up with a home purchasers ability to pay.

“Shot in the Arm” brought North Platte a lot of positive publicity throughout Nebraska and local Chamber Devco leaders have been asked to do numerous local, regional and state presentations on how the program works.  North Platte has been lauded for its innovative and creative way to tackle the problem by providing an incentive directly to the developer for each housing unit built.

“Shot in the Arm” – Phase 1 – ran from 2015-2017.  There were 48 new homes constructed and all have been sold, creating an estimated $11 million in new valuation, approximately $125,000 in retail sales from purchases of materials, generates $227,000 in annual property taxes and brought over 100 new residents into the community either through direct sales, or step up sales that opened up older housing for other residents.

The original incentive investment was $350,000 – half from Chamber Devco and half from the City of North Platte’s Quality Growth Fund.

Phase 2 launched in 2018 with commitments of $1,183,400 in incentives pledged by the State of Nebraska’s Rural Workforce Housing Fund, Union Pacific Foundation, Great Plains Health, City of North Platte’s Quality Growth Funds and Chamber Devco incentive partners.   There are 118 housing units committed in the program right now with many more on the waiting list.

Program guidelines require houses to be 1,400 square feet minimum with two car garage.  The incentive is $12,000 for a single family; $6,000 per unit for multi-family built to city standards.  Each developer had to commit to at least two and no “pre-sold” are allowed.

Even with much of 2018 dedicated to getting construction plans and developments in place, still, 9 new houses were constructed by five different developers, creating another $2.5 million in new valuation.  Anticipated additional valuation being created by Phase 2 is expected to exceed $25 million.  That does not include several other housing projects being proposed that were attracted to North Platte because of the statewide publicity of the program.

Chamber Devco has approved 79 single family houses with 39 multi-family units for a total approval of 118.  Those units have to be constructed by 2020 to receive the incentive.     There are over 300 additional housing units proposed on the pending project list that have been in contact with Chamber Development officials.

Total participants of “Shot in Arm 1 & 2” include nine different developers and six others are on the waiting list.   The majority on the waiting list are multi-unit developments primarily targeting the rental market.  Of course, the market itself will dictate if and when those additional housing developments happen.

Chamber Devco officials contacted each of the developers in “Shot in the Arm – Phase 1” and the 9 houses constructed thus far in “Shot in the Arm – Phase 2” to find out which local businesses were involved in their projects.   Thus far 80 have been identified and it’s very likely some may have been overlooked.   That list is likely to grow considerably once Phase 2 is completed.

The program has helped North Platte play catch up on the housing market as its construction has lagged behind peer communities such as Hastings, Kearney, Columbus, Norfolk and Fremont.  This decade North Platte has averaged 35 new housing units per year.  In previous decades those numbers were: (52 per year) 2000-2009; (79 per year) 1990’s; (64 per year) 1980’s; (284 per year) 1970’s; (158 per year) 1960’s; (134 per year) 1950’s; (115 per year) – 1940’s.

The recently completed 2018 North Platte / Lincoln County Housing study documented the various housing needs and demands both in new units estimated at an immediate need of 523 additional to have a healthy housing market, and the rehabilitation of older and substandard housing being another critical point of emphasis.  Approximately 75 percent of North Platte’s housing stock is a half-century or older.  That aging housing structure percentage is even greater in the villages of Lincoln County.

Local entities involved in “Shot in the Arm” project:

Wilk Builders

Sandoval Concrete

Dancer Properties

Valley Lawn and Grass

Lincoln County Com Dev Corp

Norman’s Plumbing

Batt Construction

Albrecht Masonry

Roethemeyer Development

Stone Creek Landscaping & Design

Keith Hinrichsen Construction

Hamilton Roofing & Contracting

Grizzly J’s Woodworking

Paulsen Redi-Mix

RCR Properties

Front Street Framing

Great Plains Health

Demoude Concrete Pumping

Union Pacific Railroad

S & S Electric

Brady Community Foundation

Winn Supply

Eickhoff Construction

John Cummings Construction

KJ Construction

Sitorius Painting

Pagel Electric

Bloedorn Lumber

Franzen Plumbing

Curt Nichols, GC

A J Heating & Air

Down & Dirty Cleaning

Holcomb Heating

IC Quality Painting

Country Side Concrete

Karl’s Appliance

Hamilton Builders

Pro-Rolloff

First National Bank

Western Materials Inc.

Nebraskaland National Bank

Halls Electric

Adams State Bank

LLR & J Inc.

Hershey State Bank

Denny Hansen Construction

Great Western Bank`

Weathercraft Companies of North Platte

Aupperlee Plumbing

Sherwin Williams Paint Store

Platte Valley Electric

Wall Doctor

Bruce’s Furniture

Coldwell Bankers

Carhart Lumber

Gateway Realty

Menards

Lashley Land & Realty

Beveridge Inc.

Great Plains Realty

(John) Lee’s Good Life Construction

Scott Abstract

Al’s Electric

Western Abstract & Title

Lusk Heating and Air

Re/Max Realty

Hazen Sprinklers

Condon Signs

Bloedorn Lumber

Western Insurers /Adams Ins. Advisor

Wall Doctor

Commercial Investment Services

Mead Lumber

Wal-Mart

Knobel Refrigeration

Franzen Plumbing

John Cummings Construction

Arnold Insurance Company

Select Abbey Tile & Carpet

Creative Interiors