Affordable housing

Rapid City Mayor Jason Salamun, left, poses with real estate agent and developer Rob Poeppel in front of a spec home. Poeppel wants to build smaller-than-average homes for first-time homebuyers. (Courtesy of Jami Poeppel)

Big prices drive interest in small homes, but lot-size rules stand in the way

BY: - October 27, 2023

Rob Poeppel wants to build illegal houses. Or at least they would be illegal if he hadn’t gotten a waiver from the Rapid City Council. The 165 houses the Rapid City developer and real estate agent hopes to build and sell aren’t designed for drug dealers or meant to be used for otherwise unscrupulous activity, […]

A drawing of a Rapid City apartment complex that would generate enough solar energy to offset all of its electricity usage. (Courtesy City of Rapid City)

Rapid City apartments would offset all their energy use with solar panels

BY: - September 9, 2023

In what’s being described as a rare project for South Dakota, a developer is planning a six-building apartment complex in Rapid City with enough solar panels to offset all of its energy use. The housing will be available to those earning 60% or less than the average income in the area. The project — one […]

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 28, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)

Congressional Roundup: Rounds seeks solutions for classified document mess

BY: - May 21, 2023

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, is a cosponsor of a new bill proposing solutions to high-profile problems with the handling of classified information. The sponsor of the bill is Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia. Four Democrats, three Republicans, including Rounds, and an independent are cosponsors. Rounds said in a news release the bill would “increase accountability […]

Houses under construction. (Getty Images)

Mortgage rates are stabilizing but that may not be enough to help house hunters

BY: - April 4, 2023

Home prices are cooling off and mortgage rates fell last week, but the fallout from recent bank closures could continue to make it hard for some Americans to buy homes, economists say. Mortgage rates fell to 6.32% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, Freddie Mac data released on Thursday shows. Last fall, the 30-year fixed […]

Houses under construction. (Getty Images)

Black Hills foundation awarded $3 million for housing work

BY: - February 7, 2023

The Bush Foundation, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, is awarding more than $3 million to the Black Hills Area Community Foundation to address affordable housing problems in Rapid City, according to a news release. The award includes a $1 million grant to support a Strategic Housing Initiative, a $2 million investment in the Rapid City […]

In November, Colorado voters passed Prop 123, which will allow 0.1% of the state income tax rate to be used to increase the affordable housing stock among other provisions to help the unhoused. This man, who was living in an encampment in Boulder last year, said he had been on a housing wait list for a long time. (Derek Miles for Colorado Newsline)

Voters embraced affordable housing initiatives. Advocates say Congress should do the same.

BY: - December 14, 2022

Voters in Colorado approved a statewide affordable housing initiative in November; while voters in nine cities across the country OK’d measures to finance the construction of affordable housing, preserve existing rental properties and support renters. But as housing costs soar, analysts and advocates say more needs to be done and argue that federal action is […]