NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council agreed on Tuesday to approve a Resolution supporting the submission of a MIH/ARPA Moderate Income Housing Grant Application and submittal for the Housing Investor Tax Credit Program from Kansas Housing Resources Corporation for Plum Creek Subdivision.
Jim Strawn explained to the council that this has proven to work for him in other towns in the area.
"Moderate Income Housing, we've been building these in other communities for years," Strawn said. "We started out in Lyons and I think we did probably, I'm guessing, 15 or 20 homes there. Then we went from there to Marion and Moundridge and we've got a project in McPherson we're doing right now. There's probably a couple other communities, Inman, we've done some there."
The typical buyers are people who are committed to the community.
"People that are buying our houses, we see a lot of schoolteachers, I guess I'm just kind of giving you a feel of the type of people that we sell to in these other communities. We think we'll see that here. We sell to a lot of schoolteachers, people that work for the city, county, policemen, firemen, things along that line."
MIH grants and/or loans are awarded to cities and counties to develop multi-family rental units and single-family for-purchase homes in communities with populations fewer than 60,000 people.
"These are typically a three bedroom, two bath," Strawn said. "We see more and more three car garages go on. People have the option of finishing the basement themselves or have us finish them. There are a lot of options."
Applications are due on February 17, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. Awards will be announced in late March 2023.
The intent is to do the project in phases and they are seeing what they get for grant funding and what the market demand is before making a decision on how many to start, though they are ready to build as many as 35 homes in the project's first two phases if they can secure the grants.
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