HHDC Continues New Construction Activity

During the past year new construction activity for the HHDC continued in our rural Bemidji subdivision, Sunset Meadows. Two new homes were built, one utilizing the pre-sale private contractor model and the other with the Bemidji High School.

The pre-sale model continues to be a focus for the HHDC as it allows the corporation to manage cash flow more effectively and enter the new construction market when the timing is right. Utilizing private contractors also maximizes the use of staff time as many of the project management related tasks are completed by the general contractor. The HHDC would like to build three or more pre-sold homes in the 2011-2012 building season.  Although there are many benefits to the pre-sale model, we would like to develop at least one spec home in Sunset Meadows as we are continually presented with buyers that cannot wait for a home to be built.

The Bemidji High School Carpentry Program produced another amazing home this year under the direction of Jeff Olson. The HHDC could not ask for a more qualified and dedicated partner than Jeff. His passion for building and teaching are on display everywhere you look in this year’s home. This season the kids built a challenging home that provided the opportunity for creativity to flourish as seen in the many custom alterations that were made during construction. Enrollment continues to grow in the carpentry program and as a result the program will produce two homes for the 2011-2012 school year. The Bemidji School District also deserves credit for its continued support of the partnership.

The HHDC continued to grow its purchase rehabilitation program over the past year. The first five homes completed under this initiative are now sold. We anticipate carrying an active inventory of five homes being rehabilitated at any given time.

Many lessons have been learned as we have developed our rehabilitation skills. There are several risks involved when rehabilitating existing homes that are not present when building new homes. As a general rule, the older the home the greater the challenge and risk level.  Because of this we have focused on maintaining a portfolio of homes that includes more new homes than old to the greatest extent possible. The more challenging projects are very rewarding in terms of community impact and we will continue to take on such units when possible.

The HHDC is always looking for partners that will help us mitigate the risk involved in working with the older housing stock. The primary resource that can help us in this arena is value gap funding. Value gap funding allows the HHDC to take on projects where we anticipate the end value or sale price of the home to be less than the cost to acquire and rehabilitate the home. Such funds can come from a variety of sources like our traditional funding partners GMHF, MHFA and DEED.  Resources from local partners such as cities and counties, can help fill funding gaps, and are often essential to leverage other resources.

Last year the City of Park Rapids was awarded $700,000 in Small Cities Development Program funds from the Department of Employment and Economic Development to support downtown commercial rehabilitation/storefront renovation; rehabilitation of downtown rental housing, and owner occupied housing rehabilitation in Akeley, Park Rapids and rural Hubbard County. The City contracted with the HRDC to administer the program and this year we have begun the implementation phase of our rehabilitation activities. Several downtown commercial and owner occupied single family housing projects have been completed this year. The current program will end in September of 2012 with a projected total of 8 commercial, 18 owner occupied, and 3 downtown rental projects receiving funding. There is substantial interest within the community to explore the option of a second phase for this program.

Some of the major improvements made under this program can be enjoyed by everyone as they visit downtown Park Rapids. For example, substantial improvements were completed this year at the Park Theater. Additionally, there was also the creation of a new business, Smoky Hills Art: Natures Creations, which utilized SCDP funds to complete a major renovation needed in order to open their new store.

The transformations that took place at the theater are nothing short of amazing. Formerly a two screen venue, the theater has been re-designed into a modern three screen multiplex that features a main screen with 3D capabilities and state of the art sound. From the exterior the building maintains its downtown appeal with the largely original facade that has been recently re-conditioned.  Although SCDP funds did not directly pay for many of the remodeling improvements (as they were not eligible) the funds did provide substantial leverage to the project and allowed the owners to expand their vision. Some of the improvements made with SCDP funds include a completely new heating system that is extremely energy efficient, and code improvements to the electrical service for the building.

The Smoky Hills project was equally notable in scope and had a profound impact on the downtown street scene. The rehabilitation project took a dilapidated eyesore that was worth condemning and turned it into what is essentially a brand new attractive retail space that will benefit the community for years to come. Highlights of the SCDP improvements include; the installation of a high efficiency heating system, and a completely re-designed storefront. Once again SCDP funds provided the necessary resources to expand the scope of the project and pull off something that would have been impossible without the Park Rapids grant.

It is impressive to see the impact that these funds can have on a community and it is rewarding to help entrepreneurial business owners expand their dreams and invest in the future of downtown Park Rapids. Our commercial rehabilitation took place during a time when Main Street was undergoing major reconstruction. Both initiatives have complimented one another and the finished product is remarkable. Interest in the program is strong and the HRDC will be able to commit all commercial funds during the next year to projects already in the pipeline.

Substantial progress was also made in the implementation of owner occupied homeowner rehabilitation. Several projects across Hubbard County have been started and one home has been entirely completed. The program will pick up steam in the coming year with the majority of all projects being completed in the summer and fall of 2011. There are currently more applicants for this program than there are resources.

Owner occupied rehabilitation will have a profound impact for the families who are served. In many cases improvements to energy efficiency will make the homes more affordable to operate and relieve a portion of the stress that comes with winter heating bills. For others the program will make possible emergency repairs that would not take place otherwise.   Finally, improvements made to correct health and safety deficiencies can impact the overall livability of the units. For example, we can reduce such things as health problems that can be linked to poor indoor air quality and remove any lead hazards that may exist in the home. These improvements clearly benefit households and improve the overall community.

White Earth Prepares All-Hazard Mitigation Plan

After successful completion of Hubbard County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan in late fall of 2010, HRDC staff started working on developing a Hazard Mitigation Plan for the White Earth Reservation.   Edward Snetsinger, White Earth’s Emergency Manager, and members of the Tribal Emergency Response Committee (TERC) assembled a small planning team, which started meeting regularly to discuss hazards that could affect the Tribe.  Participants from Law Enforcement, Home Health, Food Distribution, Transportation, Tribal Housing, Zoning, and Tribal Forestry participated in discussions to identify strategies to help make White Earth more disaster resistant.   The plan has prompted the Tribe to pursue enrollment in the National Flood Insurance program, which will enable each resident on the reservation to be able to purchase flood insurance at a discounted price.  Furthermore, the tribe will be eligible to access FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant dollars to implement mitigation projects in the future.   The Tribal College also played a vital role in developing some of their own mitigation actions as it relates to severe weather safety and preparedness.  The plan is in its final stages and will be sent off to FEMA for review within the next few months.

Edward Snetsinger – White Earth Emergency Manager & Mareike Stoutenburgh – HRDC staff

White Earth Land Use Plan Focuses on Wise Stewardship of Natural Resources

Since mid 2010 the White Earth Tribal Nation has been working on developing a Land Use Plan. The wise stewardship of its resources has always been a high priority, and the Tribal Council determined that a better job of managing those resources could be achieved if careful thought was given to tribal conservation goals, and future development needs.  While the tribe owns a total of 76,955 acres within reservation boundaries, with the rest privately held or in county, state, and federal ownership, it feels a deep responsibility and commitment for the wise stewardship of all of the lands throughout the reservation.

With funding provided by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, a partnership was formed between the Headwaters Regional Development Commission and a small group of committed individuals from various tribal departments to develop the plan.  In a combined effort the land office staff Doug McArthur, and Lorena Voigt, Transportation Planner Dawn Sherk, Zoning Office staff Katherine Warren, and Environmental Service staff Monica Hedstrom took several steps to prioritize tribal land resources.  Extensive amounts of data were collected and mapped to help to classify the land into three categories.  The first category included all natural and cultural resources which need to be protected from development, the second included lands not suitable for development due to physical limitations, and the third category included land suitable for future residential and commercial development.  The process also highlighted areas in which tribal land resources are limited and separate strategies were formulated to address land availability in those areas.

The groups desire to not only address the need for new housing development sites, but also to protect the natural and cultural resources tribal members value most, has lead to an excellent outcome of several strategies that will fundamentally change how the tribe will approach land development in the future.  It is the goal of the planning team that each tribal department will internalize the value of adopting a new land approval process that will ensure development patterns remain consistent with tribal conservation and preservation goals.

The Land Use Plan will not only be a tool to guide wise development on tribally owned lands but it will also be the fundamental tool to help influence land use decisions at the County level whenever important natural resources are affected.   A “meet and greet” session between the Becker County Planning Commission and the White Earth Land Office has been arranged.  The meeting intended to be the beginning of a relationship between the two entities that will help foster alignment of future land use policies and goals.

Pine Point Future Land Use Map: The map highlights areas with suitable conditions for housing developments, land assignments and commercial/institutional structures.
(Click image above to download a pdf)

(Pictured left-right)
Edward Snetsinger - Emergency Manager, Monica Hedstrom – Environmental Manager, and Will Bement – Water Quality Manager

Mn/DOT’s Office of Transit and the Minnesota Department of Human Services are working with Regional Development Commissions across the state to update the 2006 Local Human Service Transit Coordination Plan. The goal is to identify the transportation needs of individuals with disabilities, older adults, and people with low income, and set transportation services funding priorities in the Headwaters Region. These plans are required by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and are necessary before any organization within the region can apply to receive funding from the New Freedom Initiative, Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC), and Elderly and Disabled Transportation (5310).

Coordination planning acknowledges that resources are limited. We are in an environment of decreased funding for public transit and human service, and finding ways to increase the efficiency of resources and services in our region is important to having a successful and thriving transportation network.

One of the plans’ major elements is identifying passengers’ needs through a needs assessment. This needs assessment includes:

• Mapping transit dependent populations, key destinations, and transit coverage in the region.
• Conducting an inventory of all transportation providers in the region, including public, private, and non-profit.
• Review of strategies and projects in the 2006 plans and assessing coordination outcomes since that time.

In 2006, the planning process emphasized strategies. This year we will continue to identify strategies for transit coordination, but will spend more time identifying specific projects to improve coordination in our region.

These plans are guided through a public process, with a breadth of stakeholders involved in the planning process. A steering committee representing public, private, and non-profit providers and agencies was developed and has since met to evaluate the 2006 strategies and review the requirements for the 2011 plans. Further public involvement has been reached through a day long workshop. The workshop was organized to provide individuals with a background on coordination transit planning, review needs and existing services in our region discuss strengths and weakness of transit coordination in our region and brainstorm project ideas for 2011. A variety of representatives from Area Agencies on Aging, human service organizations and public transportation providers attended the workshop and were excited to represent their organizations and begin brainstorming potential coordination solutions together. Project ideas developed at this workshop will be brought back to the steering committee for final review and approval for the 2011 plan.

The Headwaters RDC will ultimately adopt this plan in fall, 2011.

Financial Coaching & Education in the Headwaters Region

This year the Headwaters RDC continued to offer Home buyer education throughout the Headwaters Region. Home buyer education (Home Stretch) is offered in a class room setting over a period of eight hours. This year, we offered monthly classes in Bemidji, six classes in Park Rapids, and a class through Community Education in Mahnomen. We are also trying to offer Home Stretch in Clearwater and Lake of the Woods Counties through Community Education.

This year 53 households completed Home Stretch. While this is well below our annual goal of 100 households, we have put a great deal of effort into revamping the program and branding ourselves throughout the Region. We expect to see the results of this work pay off over the next several months.

One of the new services that the HRDC began to offer this year is financial coaching. This service is offered primarily to people looking to purchase a home. In a financial coaching session an advisor meets with a household and reviews their income and expenses, their credit history, their mortgage affordability and their mortgage readiness. At that point the household has a much clearer picture for what their next steps should be in order to purchase a home.

Financial coaching is offered as a free service to households. Households can choose to access a tri-merged credit report with their credit scores during their session. This year 28 households completed pre-purchase coaching. In addition, 8 households completed post-purchase coaching.

We are working diligently to make sure that the entire Headwaters Region is aware of the financial and home buyer services that are available. We have recently developed new marketing materials and will be reaching out to potential partners throughout our Region. We are committed to creating successful homeowners throughout the Headwaters Region and believe that our financial coaching and Home Stretch programs are perfect tools to do just that!

The incorporation of “Active Living” as a core area of the Headwaters Regional Development Commission has been a gift that keeps on giving for our communities.  Last year we shared individual successes and introduced a new project that was billed as an experiment at “Regional Active Living planning.”  This experiment has proven successful.  We have felt a tremendous amount of support across the whole region.  There is an eagerness to continue to explore new opportunities to improve the health and wellness of the Region. 

The buzz of Active Living can be heard around the region as all of our counties are pursuing Active Living projects! Each of our County Seats (Bagley, Baudette, Bemidji, Mahnomen, and Park Rapids) and each of our County Boards (with the exception of Mahnomen County at this point) have unanimously adopted Active Living Resolutions. Similar to Bemidji, these resolutions are not intended to be a restrictive mandate, but are intended to provide these communities with the opportunity to partner and creatively think about non-motorized transportation as opportunities present themselves. 

The Resolutions are not silver bullets for Active Living.  Rather, they are intended to provide a foundation to be intentional about taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.  The following is a quick look at how each of our Counties have started to tinker with the concept of building communities that are bikable, walkable, and accessible for all people, regardless of age or ability.

Clearwater County
Clearwater County has a long term vision for creating connections between the different cities and nearby recreation and open space.  In the short term, the local Active Living team is working on making downtown Bagley and the surrounding area more bikable and walkable.  This includes purchasing bicycle racks, developing a plan to stripe and sign bicycle routes, and working with Mn/DOT to consider safe crossings of Highways 2 and 92. 

Hubbard County
Hubbard County has been successful at improving the physical environment.  When 6th Street was re-constructed last year, the Park Rapids City Council made sure the project included sidewalks and paved parking at Lindquist Park.  A sidewalk was also constructed in Lindquist Park to provide access to residents of Heritage Living Center that need the assistance of wheelchairs. 

One of the things that we noticed in Hubbard County over the past year is that there is an incredible amount of energy around all things related to health and wellness.  Staff will be working with partners to generate a project called “Active Hubbard County,” which will be an aggressive and comprehensive Active Living project that will focus on implementing the Headwaters Active Living Toolkit.

Lake of the Woods County
A partnership between the City of Baudette and Lake of the Woods County has been established to pursue an extensive community-wide strategic trails plan for the Baudette Area. The plan will identify key destinations and routes throughout the community and identify a range of improvements that can make physical activity and non-motorized transportation the safe, easy, and convenient option.  A steering committee composed of various community leaders has been developed and have met to evaluate the current conditions, identify key destinations and routes in the community and discuss potential improvements to increase the accessibly and convenience of walking and biking in the community.

Mahnomen County
A Comprehensive Plan for the City of Mahnomen was completed by the HRDC in April, 2009.  One of the priorities identified in that plan was the need to identify a strategic direction for parks and trails.  As a result, the HRDC is working with the City of Mahnomen to develop a Strategic Park and Trails Plan. 

After a complicated process of assembling several financing sources and meeting myriad due diligence requirements, construction of Conifer Estates, a twenty unit supportive and transitional housing project in Bemidji, will begin in 2011.  Closing on financing took place on May 31, and on-site construction began on June 6.  The HHDC is developing the affordable housing project which will be owned by the Beltrami County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA).

The City of Bemidji provided grant and loan funds to support construction of Conifer Avenue, a street that was required in order to provide access to the building site.  The City also received grant funds from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to help make the infrastructure development financially feasible.  Construction of the municipal infrastructure in the right-of-way began last fall and will continue along with the construction of the housing facility.   

In addition to the HHDC, Beltrami County HRA and the City of Bemidji, partners on this project include the Red Lake HRA, Leech Lake HRA, Bi-County CAP, and DW Jones.  Funding was originally provided by Minnesota Housing, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and the Minnesota Department of Human Services.  The enhanced funding package includes $500,000 secured from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines by First National Bank of Bemidji and $350,000 from the DEED Small Cities Development Program.  Architectural and Engineering services are being provided by Widseth Smith Nolting, and Kraus Anderson is the general contractor.

By the spring of 2012, very low-income homeless families and individuals will be able to seek occupancy at a high quality facility, and take advantage of services designed to help stabilize their housing.

The Beltrami County HRA has continued to play a critical role in supporting development of Conifer Estates, a 20-unit supportive housing project that will be located adjacent to Conifer Avenue, a new street the organization is helping to finance in order to support housing for homeless families.  Through a challenging underwriting process the HRA has remained steadfast in its support for this important community project. 

The HRA also supported Ours to Serve House of Hospitality develop a new 8-bed homeless shelter in Bemidji by agreeing to be the public owner, one of the requirement of the bond financing obtained for the project. 

Ownership of the Village of Hope and Conifer Estates represent a significant commitment by the HRA to homeless families in the region.

A new down payment assistance program was launched by the HRA this past year.  The program will provide assistance to households throughout Beltrami County.  A specific set-aside of funds have been allocated to the northeast part of the County in order to ensure opportunity to households interested in purchasing homes in the Blackduck- Kelliher- Waskish area.

The HRA has also taken some steps looking forward to future affordable housing development activities.  The HRA sold an option on five acres directly north of the Conifer Estates project to a private developer interested in building a thirty unit affordable rental housing development financed in part with an allocation of federal low income housing tax credits.  If tax credits are awarded construction could begin as early as 2012.  The HRA also purchased additional property in order to support construction of more affordable housing units.  A nearly forty acre parcel just east of the Conifer Estates development site was purchased with an eye on affordable housing development opportunities over the next several years.  According to Rich Jaranson, HRA Board Chairman, “We’ve focused our efforts over the past few years on emergency, transitional and permanent housing for homeless families.  Looking forward we intend to continue those efforts while also pursuing additional opportunities to provide housing for a broad range of households in Beltrami County.” 

The MCPP program makes affordable mortgage financing available for first time home buyers throughout the region.  HRDC staff has helped local governments access this financing tool for the past twenty years.

In 2011, the MCPP allocated each county the Headwaters RDC serves the following amounts: Beltrami - $698,419, Clearwater - $130,156, Hubbard - $296,503, Lake of the Woods - $100,000 and Mahnomen $100,000.  In general, usage in the region was lower last year than usual, likely due to the challenging economic climate.  Current usage of the MCPP resources can be found here.

Last year, and again this year, Minnesota is not issuing mortgage revenue bonds, but has opted to use federal resources to support the program. It is expected the program will continue to be popular among the region’s counties and that usage will be greater than last year.

Due to a strong network of local lenders, counties in the Headwaters Region have made good use of the program over the years.

Hubbard County HRA continues to meet the housing needs of low and moderate income households in the County.  The HRA focuses on housing rehabilitation, offering several programs to help households finance improvements to their homes.  The HRA also provides affordable rental housing by renting supportive and transitional housing to very low income individuals and families.  In addition, the HRA promotes affordable home ownership opportunities through building new housing, administering down payment assistance, and providing home ownership education.  HRDC has provided staff assistance to the Hubbard County HRA since April, 2009.  

HRDC helped the City of Bemidji access Small Cities Development Program funding from the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to support commercial rehabilitation/storefront renovation of 14 buildings downtown.  With seventeen buildings improved in the first phase of the program, more than thirty commercial buildings will be renovated through this effort. 

In May of this year the City requested approval from DEED to expand the target area for the use of funds, and that request was approved.  The following map shows the expanded target area for the commercial rehabilitation activity.

Click for larger image

The 2010 DEED grant award also included funding to Bemidji for construction of a portion of a city street and related infrastructure needed to support construction of the supportive housing project (Conifer Estates).