Housing

A sign in Mitchell advertising workforce housing for delivery. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

100 more, and still short: State money helps Mitchell build houses for workers

BY: - November 26, 2023

About a tenth of the 450 employees at Trail King in Mitchell drive 100 miles a day to get there and back from Huron. The pay is worth the drive, according to Trail King’s Lee Anderson, but that doesn’t mean they like it. Most would happily move to Mitchell, he said – at least they […]

Teacher homes on the Oglala Reservation. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Landlords for teachers: Housing projects aim to keep pace with reservation school expansion

BY: - November 26, 2023

One of the newest, most modern tech high schools in South Dakota is in one of the poorest counties in the United States. Lakota Tech High School, the only public high school in Oglala Lakota County, didn’t exist until a few years ago. It owes its existence to a $50 million flurry of activity that […]

Clint Soulek, Chamberlain city administrator, points out areas in city limits where development has been slow to emerge. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Housing infrastructure funding helps Chamberlain over the hill

BY: - November 26, 2023

Chamberlain’s greatest asset is the Missouri River, whose choppy, sea green waves paint picturesque scenes within walking distance of downtown and a fair share of its established homes.  Chamberlain’s also landlocked, to an extent. The ground best suited for building was built upon decades ago, forming a teardrop-shaped thicket of urban activity along the river’s […]

An apartment building under construction on June 13, 2023, in eastern Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Latest round of state housing infrastructure aid totals $19 million

BY: - November 14, 2023

The South Dakota Housing Development Authority Board signed off on another $19 million in housing infrastructure funding for 19 projects on Tuesday. The ultimate beneficiaries of the grant funding will include seniors in Watertown, students and residents in Vermillion, along with home buyers or renters in Worthing, Miller, Beresford, Centerville, Canton and Aberdeen. One project […]

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, […]

Mayor Deborah McIsaac does paperwork in Baltic's city administration building during the fall of 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Baltic controversy serves as cautionary tale about big development in small towns

BY: - October 21, 2023

BALTIC — Mayor Deborah McIsaac said she was shocked when she took office in 2022 and discovered a housing development in town had been given the green light without basic paperwork ensuring accountability. “I’m like, ‘seriously?’” McIsaac said.  The situation evolved into a political crisis — including a failed mayoral recall — for the town […]

An apartment building under construction on June 13, 2023, in eastern Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

A historic housing construction boom may finally moderate rent hikes

BY: - October 18, 2023

An unprecedented surge in the nationwide construction of new housing — mostly apartments — may finally be making a dent in fast-rising rents that have been making life harder for tenants. More than 1.65 million housing units were under construction across the U.S. last year, the highest annual number since federal record-keeping started in 1969. […]

A May 2023 aerial view of Deadwood. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight, via EcoFlight)

Housing board awards $48 million more in infrastructure grants

BY: - October 10, 2023

Teachers in Pine Ridge, service members at Ellsworth Air Force Base and thousands of Sioux Falls residents are among the beneficiaries of about $48 million in housing grants awarded Tuesday. The South Dakota Housing Development Authority sent the money to 20 separate projects to help developers pay for infrastructure like streets, water and sewer lines. […]

An apartment building under construction on June 13, 2023, in eastern Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Seven housing projects get boost from long-delayed infrastructure program

BY: - September 12, 2023

A state board signed off Monday on the first grant dollars from a $200 million housing infrastructure program that had been mired in controversy through two state legislative sessions. Box Elder was the big winner at the September meeting of the South Dakota Housing Development Authority, at which seven applications for infrastructure grants were reviewed […]

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 […]

An apartment building under construction on June 13, 2023, in eastern Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Tribes still face uphill slog for housing infrastructure funding after passage of rules

BY: - June 13, 2023

South Dakota’s tribes may lose out on a quarter of a $200 million pool of workforce housing infrastructure money before lawmakers can pass a bill giving them access to the funds. The Legislature’s Rules Review Committee voted 5-1 Tuesday to give final approval to the rules for the program. But a wrinkle in the law […]

Houses under construction. (Getty Images)

Housing cash one step closer for South Dakota builders

BY: - May 31, 2023

The rules for a $200 million infrastructure funding program are headed to lawmakers for a final sign-off. The board of the South Dakota Housing Development Authority voted unanimously to approve its rules for the program on Wednesday after about an hour of public comments from local economic development offices, attorneys, home builders and others. Commenters […]