Lack of housing remains concern

County residents gathered Friday morning during the housing development portion of the “State of the Community” County-wide Conference to hear updates from Leif Anderson, Beagle Properties Inc., and Paul Groshart, Richland County Housing Authority (RCHA), on what’s being done to remedy the housing shortage.

Groshart presented an update on the solutions to better low-income housing and additional senior housing. With renovations to nine buildings at the Sunset Apartments put on the backburner due to lack of funds, he said the housing authority was considering a Housing Choice Voucher Home Ownership Program in which the RCHA assists families in buying homes from landlords through monthly payments.

In addition, Groshart said the housing board at Crestwood Inn is working with county commissioners to possibly acquire the old hospital. Last December during an inspection of the building, inspectors found traces of asbestos. It would cost $250,000 to remove the hazardous material. He added, “We would like to add on at least another 18 units. Ideally that would be great.”

Leif Anderson, owner of Beagle Properties, told patrons the Housing Action Group is looking at everything from renovating old buildings to constructing new homes in order to increase the number of available housing units.

One option, Anderson said, is land trusts. These are agreements in which a trustee agrees to hold ownership of a piece of real property for the benefit of the beneficiary.

“In our climate of needing to somehow subsidize housing, these land trusts are probably one of the most exciting things that we’re working on right now, and I think really have some potential,” he said.

Another option the Housing Action Group looked into, Anderson said, is to construct manufactured homes and mobile home parks, but that might be a stretch. “So we’ve primarily been looking at trying to enhance or make available some of the existing parks such as the Wagon Wheel trailer park.”

Anderson added, “What we’ve found is there’s a gap between what it costs to build something and what the market will bear to pay for that and what people are able to pay for rent.” The rent structure in Sidney is not high enough of a return on investment for a developer.

Perhaps the most feasible option discussed to increase housing is to create a developer’s package. This package would give interested companies detailed information from the possible locations of the site to the plumbing location, so that they can begin construction as soon as possible. “We thought that might be something we can come up with that can be a very realistic way to encourage some developers,” Anderson said.

During the discussion session, Wade VanEvery, executive director of the Sidney Area Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, said he believed it would benefit the county to have a package ready to go for potential businesses. “We feel like if we had a package available it would really make the chances of getting a doable hotel, for example, much more of a reality,” he said, adding that laying the ground work sends a strong message that the residents are ready.

Leslie Messer, executive director of the Richland Economic Development, said RED has lost potential businesses because there wasn’t any planned package put together. The most recent loss, she said, was the Holiday Inn Express, which was in Sidney for three days ready to negotiate. Because there wasn’t a package, the perception was that the community wasn’t prepared. “We didn’t have anything in place like what you’re talking about,” Messer told Anderson, “and that would remedy that situation where we’re not prepared.”

Still, the economic climate for attracting developers has become more difficult compared to a year ago.

“The question whether to get governments to subsidize may be more necessary than ever to actually see more habitual places being built,” Anderson said.

reporter@sidneyherald.com