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CITY, ND – (NewsDakota.com) North Dakota Housing Finance Agency’s updated housing study doesn’t tell the entire story according to Connie Ova and Jennifer Feist, two area Economic Development Directors.
Ova and Feist issued the following statement. They say it singled out Region 6 (which includes Jamestown and Valley City) as the only area in the state that will not grow in the next 13 years. In fact, the study shows losses when the rest of the state is growing by 21% during the study period of 2016-2029. ND Housing Finance officials cited a lack of employment opportunities in those areas, as well as baby boomers moving to urban areas to access services. As economic development professionals, we take exception to this.
HIGHER PAYING JOBS: In Stutsman County, economic development projects at SEPA (Spiritwood) include biomass, value added agricultural processing and barley processing; total employment is expected to be 100 permanent, full-time positions with approximately 200 construction jobs.
In Barnes County, the PSC received an application for a 300 megawatt farm, Glacier Ridge Wind Farm, consisting of about 90+ turbines located on over 34,000 acres of land northeast of Valley City. This is the largest wind farm request in North Dakota’s history. Construction could start as early as November. The project would bring construction and permanent, full-time higher paying jobs and benefits.
Healthy Food Ingredients, LLC reached an agreement to purchase Heartland Flax based in Valley City. Brad Hennrich, President, said the Valley City location will become the company’s flagship manufacturing plant. More projects are in the pipeline in both communities. Primary sector growth is driving investments in service and retail business development, housing, childcare, lodging and more. The results are visible. Our focus is creating higher paying jobs.
BUILDING PERMITS: Valley City issued $31 Million in building permits in 2016 and are on track to exceed 2015, which totaled $35 Million ($50 Million throughout Barnes County). Jamestown’s building permits totaled $46 Million for 2016; and $28 Million in 2015 ($30 Million throughout Stutsman County).
DEMAND FOR HOUSING UNITS: The study shows a projected increase in the number of housing units of approximately 2,900 by 2029 and all nine counties in Region 6 are expected to show growth. The study uses two models to predict future housing needs. Model 1 is based on historical data. Model 2 is based on shifts in population and housing demand. One model shows every county is expected to show some growth while the other model shows a loss.
If weakened, housing demand is specific to low- and very low-income households, perhaps it’s because Jamestown and Valley City have made strides toward solving the overall housing problem. The statewide problem is single family housing with challenges being two-fold; 1) cost of infrastructure and construction, and 2) student loan payments that compete with housing. Again, we need higher paying jobs.
REGIONAL MAKE-UP/WEIGHTED NUMBERS: The population of Region 6 (56,363) including Valley City and Jamestown is larger than Region 3 (40,672), which the study showed will see moderate growth. Region 3 includes Devils Lake and Spirit Lake Indian Reservation; it consists of 6 counties. Two key factors skew the statistics. Region 6 consists of 9 counties but does not include a major population center or oil. It does include the largest number of rural counties in the state in relationship to our size. Population increased from 2010 to 2014 in its two major counties, Barnes and Stutsman. Because Region 6 includes a greater number of rural counties in relationship to our size, the overall numbers become heavily weighted. We have more rural counties than any of the other regions and they are seeing decreases.
GAINING GROUND: Historically, Barnes and Stutsman Counties have shown population losses in 1990, 2000 and 2010; and population gains to 2014 and projected gains through 2019. The relentless work of economic development professionals and organizations has stopped the losses; we have turned the corner and heading in the right direction.