Rural Housing Needs

When opportunity knocks you d better have a door to open to let it in That s what community leaders are finding out throughout the state oil field workers and others need places to hang their hats And as Debbie Kuehn reports local and state officials are trying to address the housing situation For years rural community leaders have watched as blades of grass pushed through the cracks in silent city streets mainstreet windows fell to an onslaught of plywood and for sale signs replaced welcome mats But if you ask Jolene Kline the times they are a changing Jolene Kline ND Housing Finance Agency- It s exciting times for the state The economy is thriving in so many industries The farm economy is another thing that s having an impact Kline guesses that her office s Statewide Technical Assistance Team has met with leaders from more than 140 communties in recent months This one is in Powers Lake nestled within the heart of the oil country Jolene- -Traveling around the state you know the southeastern part is seeing the wind farms coming in and so they re having increasing needs with the wind farms With the bio-fuel plants the coal expansion plants the ethanol plants there s something happening in every part of the state Pat Tingum Burke County Job Development Authority - 59 44- They re seeing people haved moved into our area of the state because of the increased border patrol and the individuals working up there We ve got homeland security that s p utting on people all the time and that is a concern and it s nice that they re bringing their families but we need to have housing The technical assistance team can help communties assess their needs fairly and accurately and then in many cases find funding to help out That can t come too soon for the folks in Tioga where Lee Olso- says the situation is urgent Lee Olson Tioga Housing Authority - If we don t find housing they re gonna leave They re gonna m you know with the four lane it s pretty easy for em to go live in Minot cause there s placed to live in Minot Tioga officials are hoping to bring in pre-built homes to try to meet the needs as quickly as possible Lee- When a house comes on the market in Tioga sometimes it doesn t even get a chance to come on the market it s dsold before you know they hear rumors where some people want to sell their house and there people right theree to give offers before it even gets to a realtor Could this be a turnaround for our state Could outmigration be a thing of the past We ll discuss that in our next report In Powers Lake Debbie Kuehn KX News Representatives from about eight communties were at the Powers Lake meeting late last week