We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
A few months ago the cities of Harlem, Chinook and Malta entered into an agreement to participate in a study of housing needs in the respective towns. According to Eryn Nissen, with Bear Paw Development, the study was awarded to the towns through a state grant with matching funds provided by Opportunity Link, a Havre-based agency that helps communities in an eleven county region deal with poverty issues. KLJ, an engineering and consulting firm out of Billings, is conducting the survey. A KLJ representative held a series of meetings to solicit public input before the final report is completed, set to be released sometime in January, 2016.
Becky Bey, who works for KLJ in government relations, conducted the meetings in Malta, Harlem and Chinook. She explained a lot of data had been gathered but public input was needed to “give a more practical interpretation of the data, learn from locals what the housing needs are and, before the final report is released, get more public input as to the accuracy of the report and its recommendations.” She then presented a lot of statistical data about each town followed by a public discussion.
For both Harlem and Chinook, Bey explained how her team did a “windshield survey”. Basically that process ranks residential property on “curb appeal.” A majority of residences in both towns were rated “average.” Other data showed the value of a house that specific groups of people might be able to buy—for example, a married couple who were both teachers would be able to buy a $300,000 house in Chinook. There was some doubt expressed by audience members if that was really doable.
The input from the meeting
Bey posed these three questions: What do you believe is the current state of housing in the community? Where would you like to see housing go in the future? How to get there? She then let the audience respond.
While each community had its own unique challenges, there did seem to be some agreement on a few common problems. First, quality houses, ready for a working family to move into without major remodeling or upgrading, are scarce. Attendees thought some of the problem was due to unrealistic expectations, by current owners, of the potential value of both houses and building sites. Chinook, especially, had a real shortage of building sites that are outside the flood plain and available for purchase.
Another often mentioned problem was the lack of ‘transitional’ housing. This was described as housing for someone wanting to leave a house they currently owned, or a rental they were in, for a smaller, easier to maintain and cheaper place to live. It was stated that, “Both the Grande Villa in Chinook and the Little Rockies at the senior center in Harlem, have waiting lists. Both facilities fit the general description of transitional housing as was being used in the discussion.
A quick call to both facilities confirmed there is a waiting list of people wanting to go to a smaller, lower maintenance living place. The Grande Villa, which has 41 units, has a short waiting list for both one and two bedroom apartments. Barb Jergeson, who manages the Grande Villa, said she estimates about 10 apartments become available each year. Some of those are only available to low income families, while others are only for residents who can pay “market value” rent. She said there were about two on each waiting list—for subsidized and market value rentals.
At Little Rockies, in Harlem, Senior Center Director Katie Noel said, “We currently have a one bedroom apartment but no takers.” She explained that the waiting list there is often used as a way to reserve a space, but that the top person(s) on the list often reject the opening because they want to stay where they are at the time. Noel added, “It’s more like ‘right of first refusal’ list than a true waiting list. Little Rockies has 16 units with a typical vacancy, each year, of only two or three.
Members of the audience at the public input meeting felt there was a need in both communities for quality, accessible housing for people transitioning from their own rental or owned home to smaller, more easily manageable places to live. Private contractors who will build ‘spec’ housing are less attracted to small towns as opposed to more populated areas. Audience members felt it was unlikely that someone would attempt building such housing without some guarantees—suggesting a need for a public/private arrangement.
Bey noted the comments and said there would be another public meeting in January to review the final findings and recommendations. After that series of meetings the final report would be released.
