The Chadron City Council appeared supportive Monday night of a request for $150,000 in LB-840 funds to help High Plains Community Development Corporation secure up to $285,000 in matching state funds to build 2 houses in Chadron.
The proposal also calls for creating a revolving loan funding to reuse money from the project after the houses are sold and the buyers begin making payments.
No action was taken after a public hearing on the request because the city’s LB-840 advisory committee hadn’t been able to meet yet. The council set a special meeting for next Monday to act on the request and meet the state application deadline later in the week.
High Plains executive director Rita Horse told the council that the state workforce housing program will match all the funds raised dollar-for-dollar and that the request for city funds would be shelved if the project doesn’t get the state grant.
High Plains originally applied for $100,000 from the city to go along with $175,000 it planned to raise in private donations, but upped the request when it became evident fundraising would fall short and when the state raised the eligible match $10,000.
Northwest Nebraska Development Corporation executive director Deb Cottier has worked closely with Horse and others on the preparing proposal. She told the council seeking the maximum from the state makes the most sense.
The two new houses would be modular homes. Horse said the tentative timetable, should the state grant come through, would be to select sites later this year and complete the purchases in Feb or March.
Bids for the homes would follow in March or April with installation of the first next August or Sept and the buyer taking ownership in November. The second house would be installed in 2023.
Both houses would be on the market for anyone to purchase as their primary residence and there would be no income limit on the buyer.
High Plains Community Development is currently building several homes on North Main Street that do have low-or-moderate income and other requirements