Public-private partnerships can

Optimize Housing Opportunities

By Erica Beck

Thriving communities typically share many of the same building blocks. There’s quality infrastructure, including a road network and utilities with the capacity for growth. There’s long-range planning, designed to guide development and capital investments. And there’s a strategic, ongoing approach to cultivating a labor force with skills to match targeted industries.

But even with all those ingredients, a city still must offer enough variety in its housing to support a wide range of demographics and lifestyles. You can grow the jobs and attract the workers, but they still need a place to live. And ideally, they need a range of quality options and prices.

That’s where the public and private sectors must collaborate to achieve the highest level of development for residents.

Erica Beck VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT LLOYD COS. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. ERICA@LLOYDCOMPANIES.COM

This message resonated for me recently as I put a shovel in the ground in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, for Lloyd Cos.’ newest development, The Riverbend. This phased townhome project ultimately will bring more than 150 units to an area acutely in need of housing.

“Right now, if you want to rent something in Sergeant Bluff, I do not think you can at all,” Mayor Jon Winkle told us. “We’re out of residential lots, we are out of apartments, and we’ve never had a lot of apartments. So I think this will fill that need perfectly.”

Sergeant Bluff and the surrounding Sioux City metro have the fortune of being a growing employment center but have the challenge of keeping pace with needed housing.

The city and state were willing partners with our company in the project, assisting with transportation improvements from access to technology. Their commitment to helping improve traffic flow as the area grows allowed us to mitigate residents’ concerns and ultimately will result in improved quality of life for all in the area.

That’s just one example of how the public and private sectors can work together to encourage economic development through housing. Each community’s situation is unique, but the results of residential investment are uniformly worthwhile.

The National Association of Home Builders estimates the one-year economic impact of building 100 multifamily units is:

$11.7 million in local income.

$2.2 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments.

161 local jobs.

Those figures include direct and indirect impact of the construction activity associated with the project as well as the residents who live there.

But the ongoing annual impacts are certainly worth noting too. Those same units adjusted for natural vacancy rates are estimated to generate:

$2.6 million in local income.

$503,000 in taxes and other revenue for local governments.

44 local jobs.

It’s hard to think of many other investments that generate such a strong, ongoing return both directly and indirectly for communities.

I encourage our region’s elected leaders and local officials to consider what creative partnerships might be formed to strengthen housing stock. The living areas created will be a vital resource and a competitive advantage to those jurisdictions that choose to take this approach.

PB

MEDICAL DIRECTOR,