Lawmakers hear calls to expand Housing Incentive Fund as rural housing shortfall grows

Jennifer Henderson, director of the Community Housing and Grants Management Division at the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency, told the House Appropriations committee that the division manages state, federal and agency-funded programs supporting multifamily development, single-family development, homeless response and HUD project-based rental assistance."The Community Housing and Grants Management Division annually...manage state, federal, and agency funded programs that will assist with multi family development, multifamily compliance," Henderson said.

Henderson said the agency competitively awards funds and monitors compliance for long-term affordability. She told the committee the Housing Incentive Fund (HIF) has been critical as gap financing: state HIF grants helped the agency award about $11 million that supported roughly $84 million in total development costs and produced 323 affordable units in the last biennium. "For every dollar of HIF that went out the door this last biennium, you received a return of $7.30 of private investment," Henderson said.

The division reported a multifamily pipeline of roughly 23 projects under construction and said it annually receives 8–20 multifamily applications; limited HIF availability forced the agency to decline 14…