Rural Workforce Housing Fund Plays Key Role in Ogallala’s Growth

The friendly people and natural beauty of western Nebraska motivated Molly Jeffres to move back to Ogallala after living in Denver, Colorado. “I am a person who loves to be able to see the big sky whenever I want. I love driving five minutes away from my house and being by a cornfield or at the lake. I love the Nebraska landscape and the people and the simple way of life here. That was the biggest draw – to come home to live a simpler life,” said Jeffres, Community Development Coordinator for Keith County Area Development (KCAD).

Now, Jeffres is helping others make the move to western Nebraska. Like she was, many people are attracted to the region’s wide-open spaces and welcoming communities. However, finding a house can be difficult. While there are great career opportunities available, families looking to move to western Nebraska sometimes have a hard time finding a place to live. The growth of communities depends on the development of affordable housing.

The Rural Workforce Housing Fund (RWHF) is helping to meet this need. The Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act was signed into law in 2017 to assist Nebraska’s communities with housing development. The RWHF program provides funds in counties with fewer than 100,000 residents. Applicants are required to provide a match of 25% of their requested award.

Prioritizing housing development

In Ogallala, community leaders identified the housing issue early. They applied during the state’s initial funding cycle in the 2017 program year of the RWHF. However, program demand far exceeded the availability of funds, and they did not receive an award. Undeterred, they gathered additional public input and reapplied for the next funding cycle.

“In 2020 we did community vision planning sessions. It took us about 10 months to put together what this vision was – what the community input told us they wanted to see – and housing development was one of our top three priorities,” said Mary Wilson, Executive Director for KCAD.

Armed with this additional feedback, KCAD created a more competitive application for the RWHF 2020 program year. They raised $686,450 in matching funds and won a $400,000 RWHF award—providing nearly $1.1 million to develop housing. They applied again during the 2022 funding cycle, receiving an additional RWHF award of more than $500,000.

“The initial $1.1 million fund was attractive because workforce housing is desperately needed,” explained Wilson. “It’s something we can offer our local developers. Because of the community input through the community vision planning sessions, we had such a strong turnout to support the 2020 application. We were able to raise over $436,000 in less than a month to put toward the match.”

A vital tool to encourage construction

The overwhelming community support reflected KCAD’s diligent work to unite area residents around a shared vision. “The first step is to get everybody on the same page,” Wilson advised. “You have to have everybody sitting around the table to have a conversation on how this opportunity works with your community’s vision – the city, the county, housing, local philanthropic organizations, the school, the hospital, large employers – so many people around the table to get that buy-in to make sure it works with the vision you have.”

Using its RWHF funds, KCAD offers contractors 0% interest loans of up to $250,000. These loans support the development of homes that are priced at or below $325,000. When a home is sold, the loan amount is returned to the revolving fund and is used to develop more homes, benefiting both the contractor and the community. “The Rural Workforce Housing Fund has been such a vital tool to help us grow workforce housing in our community. It’s been great for us to offer to our local contractors, incentivizing them to take a risk on building housing,” said Molly Jeffres.

A game changer to spur growth

Doug Davis was one of the community members who strongly supported the RWHF award application. His business, Davis Land Investments, has worked with the Ogallala community to build several of the houses funded through KCAD’s Rural Workforce Housing Fund award. “I’ve probably built 15 houses since then and half the time they’re sold before I get them done,” he said.

“There’s just such a huge need for housing in this town, and in most towns,” he continued. “You find a job, but then where do you find a place to live? The housing corporation has been very instrumental in solving this problem. It is bringing in workforce housing. For a couple in their 30s, with kids, it gives them a nice place to land. RWHF is a game changer, in my opinion.”