By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A Henning family is hoping a variety of county funding and grant programs could be the key to bringing additional housing to Henning.

During its regularly scheduled meeting last Monday night, the Henning City Council heard from Beth and Ted Rose regarding the construction of a new spec home on a vacant lot near the school and Star City Apartments. The hope was to not only provide additional housing in the community, but also help the community grow as well. 

“I’ve heard numerous times that Henning, the frustrating thing in Henning is that they don’t have any new houses. I hear about the old crappy houses. I hear that from young people a lot,” said Beth Rose. 

Beth said the family has been interested in constructing a housing project or spec home for quite some time, but what really peaked their interest was a recent housing summit in Otter Tail County. She said that housing summit provided the family the opportunity to hear about a number of grant programs available for both developers and new home buyers. 

One project that could help the Rose family construct a spec home is a Value Gap Funding program in the county. Since many spec homes are constructed for more than they can be sold for on the open market, the program provides grant funding to offset any potential shortfall in housing development. 

For example, if a developer spent $300,000 to construct a house, but could only sell it for $270,000, the county would provide grant funding for the additional $30,000 shortfall. 

“We consider Henning worth investing in,” said Beth, adding that they own apartments and a vacant lot near Star Apartments in Henning. 

Beth went on to say they are not planning to get rich off of building a spec home, yet are just trying to help the community grow, while providing a small profit off the new spec home. 

Based on the comps they received, the Roses believe they can build a new three bedroom, two bath house for around $240,000-$251,000. The fair market value in Henning shows the house could sell for around $245,000, which could leave a slight shortfall in funding. As a result, Beth and Ted asked the city to participate in the county gap funding program on their behalf, which could allow the family to access the county program. 

Ted Rose said they were also asking the city to waive the full hookup charge to utilities, which could save them $5,500 upfront, which could be matched by the county to make the spec house more affordable to construct. If the house is sold for more money than it cost to construct, the developer would not receive the grant funding. 

The family has approached the city council about the program in the past and Ted said he has heard some concerns raised about being fair to not only themselves, but also future developers who could want a similar deal to construct a home in town. Ted encouraged the city council to not only approve their project for grant funding, but future ones as well to help bring new homes to the community. 

“One comment I’ve heard is if we do it for you we need to do it for everybody. My response is do it for everybody. What you need to say is in order for us to do this we want you to put up a bond. We want you to guarantee if the sale is more than X, Y, Z we will get our money back,” said Ted.

Beth echoed her husband by saying she has heard from a number of people that a lack of good, quality housing makes it difficult to attract young families to the community. Additional housing could not only help the town, but also the school and current business community as well. 

“The big thing here is that right now you are making $80 a year off of me (in taxes) on that piece of property, but if you throw on a quarter of a million dollar house you are getting more,” said Beth.

“You are getting a family too,” said Ted.

Several other communities, like Vergas, have utilized the county program in the past to spur housing developments. 

Henning Mayor Robert Johnson said he would like to see the city set up guidelines regarding the grant and potential housing project funding for both this project, and future ones, prior to agreeing to participate in the grant program. He said the guidelines will provide a more streamlined process for other developers who may want to come to Henning. The goal was to complete the guidelines as soon as the next city council meeting in June.

In other news

• Accepted a donation from West Central Initiative for $1,000 for the Henning Fire Relief. 

• Heard there are currently four open units at Willow Creek Assisted Living, but there is a waiting list for residents looking for larger one and two bedroom apartments. Currently there are two couples and three individuals waiting for openings. 

• Discussed the potential for adding camp sites at the Henning Festival Grounds. The city has been looking at making enhancements to the festival grounds area and one potential would be to add camp sites for campers and tents at the festival grounds. 

• Heard the monthly call report from the Henning Ambulance Service. So far this year the ambulance service has responded to 167 calls, including 40 calls in the past month alone. 

• Approved the purchase of a Binder Lift for the Henning Ambulance Service. The lift will assist ambulance personnel in lifting and assisting larger patients. The total cost for two Binder Lift’s is $1,150. Utility Supervisor Ted Strand said the city can also look into an OSHA grant to help offset the cost to purchase one of the lifts.