Letter to the editor: Housing Incentive Fund is finding success in N.D.

There are many challenges facing us during this time of unprecedented growth and opportunity. If you had to name just one as the most significant issue, you would most likely single out “housing” and more specifically “affordable housing.”

It may be the most passionately discussed issue among residents and newcomers alike. We have seen many letters to the editor and other stories complaining of the lack of housing, the price of rents, calls for property owners to hold rents down, cries to city leaders to control rents, and demands for state leaders do something about it.

City and state leaders have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure to spur housing development and increase housing supply which will eventually reduce pricing pressure. But the time it takes for the market to adjust to sustainable levels doesn’t help the immediate needs of affordable housing for essential service, health care, education and service sector employees whose wages don’t support the elevated market rates.

The governor and state legislators created the Housing Incentive Fund during the 2011 special legislative session to provide an immediate solution. While rent controls are not legal in North Dakota, the program provides grant dollars to multi-family developers in return for guaranteed rents on selected project units.

The HIF program has funded 26 projects accounting for 739 total apartment units. Three projects in Williston total 183 apartments. Not all projects are in the oil-impacted counties; there are projects in Kulm, Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Mandan accounting for 124 apartment units.

Rents for the guaranteed units are based on area median income and target formulas of the program. An example project presented by the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency, the agency responsible for the program, shows rents ranging from $576-$692 for the 50 percent median income group and $900-$1,200 for the 140 percent median income group.

The success of the program inspired Gov. Jack Dalrymple to propose an extension of $50 million including $20 million capitalized through contributions similar to the original program and $30 million as a direct appropriation in the budge of the NDHFA.

In the Legislature, House Bill 1029 was amended by the committee and the $30 million was removed. Affordable housing is at the top of our list of significant issues and this program should not be an item we cut in the governor’s budget proposal.

The funds can be restored in the Senate and we should express our support for such an action. If you believe affordable housing is one of our top priorities, there are three things you can do at the www.HIFSupport.org: HIF program, learn the details; contact the appropriate legislators; and pledge to contribute.

(Zarling is president of DAWA Solutions Group, Williston)

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion, letters