March 27, 2019

County okays $1 million to spur new home construction

County okays $1 million to spur new home construction

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

While the McKenzie County Job Development Authority still has a few tweaks to make to its Housing Infrastructure Grant Pilot Program, the McKenzie County Commissioners on Tuesday, March 19, committed $1 million toward the program.
Under the pilot program, which could become a reality as early as May, the $1 million of county funds would be used as a financial incentives to help jump-start the construction of new single-family homes that meet the $315,000 FHA maximum loan restriction in the county.
“The goal of the program is to incentivize developers to start building homes here,” stated Joel Brown, JDA president. “We want to supplement the gap in the first time home market.”
According to Brown, the funds would be used to help buy down the infrastructure costs associated with the purchase of a new home that qualifies for the program.
“What we have learned in our research of new home construction costs in Watford City is that there is about a $50,000 cost that is associated with providing water and sewer, street, curb, gutters and sidewalks to the price of a home,” states Brown. “And that puts the price of a $315,000 home at $365,000, which is outside the FHA loan limit.”

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