Revolving loan fund can help meet vital housing needs

Seven years ago, when my family moved to McCook the advice we got was, “Find a place to live and then in the next 5-10 years you can find the home you want.” We were already committed to McCook and knew rural housing was difficult, so it was something we were willing to accept.

This isn’t always the case, as I’ve heard lack of housing in McCook as a reason why people who would move to McCook, aren’t. Our housing situation is hurting our community. It is a challenge all rural Nebraska is experiencing, and solutions are complicated.

MEDC has been involved in housing for a long time. In the last five years, MEDC has completed three purchase/rehab/resale houses to improve existing houses. Through a low-income housing tax credit program, MEDC partnered in developing 32 housing units at Quillan Courts and Clary Village. MEDC was involved in TIF assistance for the new homes at North Pointe. In the last couple of years, MEDC has partnered with Southwest Nebraska Community Development Corporation to offer Down Payment Assistance to new homebuyers.

This year presents a new opportunity that could assist the community for decades. The State of Nebraska approved a $10,000,000 Rural Workforce Housing Grant Fund this year. This is an opportunity where local communities can create a revolving fund to provide low-interest financing to encourage new housing construction and substantial residential rehab.

MEDC is putting together a local $750,000 grant request. This will entail a $250,000 request from the state, $250,000 grant request from Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA) and requires $250,000 to be raised locally. If raised, this fund can spur new construction and substantial rehab.

MEDC has already received a $75,000 matching pledge from McCook Community Development Company (MNB Bank, Pinnacle Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank) and a $25,000 pledge from McCook Community Builders (Community Hospital, First Central Bank, MNB Bank, Pinnacle Bank, and Bison Dental).

We are currently asking the city and community foundation for $25,000 and plan to contribute local city growth funds. We are about at 60% of the way to raising our local match. If we raise our local funds and receive the grants, we will be able to triple our local investment in housing. There aren’t a lot of opportunities to create a fund like this.

I’ll be following up with local businesses in the next two weeks, but if you are interested in contributing to this fund or have questions, let me know. The fund will be set up as low-interest loans for housing development and if you have ideas on what you’d like to see, let me know. Part of the grant scoring is based on private and public contributions so the involvement of every donation we receive makes a difference.

Based on how COVID affected the state legislature, there wasn’t a lot of time after this bill was passed and program guidelines were given to prepare the local grant. We need to know if you can pledge by December 31. We will only collect on the pledge if the state grant is awarded. We will find out if we are awarded at the end of May and have until June 30, 2021, to college our pledges.

This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a revolving fund to improve local housing for generations. It is a great chance for us as a community to invest in ourselves. I look forward to hearing from many in the community by e-mail at andy@mccookne.org or through a phone call at 308-345-1200.