Lawmakers Hear Push for $10M Homeless Grant and Expanded Housing Incentive Fund

BISMARCK, N.D. — Witnesses urging state support for homelessness services and affordable housing told the House Appropriations Government Operations Division on April 16 that a proposed one‑time $10 million North Dakota homeless grant and larger Housing Incentive Fund (HIF) allocations would expand capacity across urban and rural communities.

Mark Heinert of YouthWorks told the committee the $10 million homeless grant included in Senate Bill 2014 is “an investment on young people” and said local match dollars are essential for organizations to leverage federal grants. Heinert said YouthWorks has federal contracts “upwards of $1,100,000,” which require a local match (about $266,000 annually) and that the group’s transitional housing beds (about 40 beds statewide) serve two people per year on average with a typical stay of six months.

The argument to fund both the homeless grant and HIF came from a mix of service providers, developers and tribal representatives who said state funds act as gap financing that leverages federal programs and private tax credit equity.

Why it matters: Witnesses told legislators that without state match dollars many federal awards cannot be accessed, and developers said HIF has been essential historically for producing deeply affordable units. Brent Dexter, executive director of the Lewis and Clark Development Group, told the committee that HIF funds have been a “gap…