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
