Photo looking up into dome of capitol building in Pierre, SD
Advocacy

Governor Signs Workforce Housing Bill

  • Debra Owen
  • April 1, 2022
  • 3 min read

Last December, Governor Noem announced her plan to provide an answer to the workforce housing needs across our state. Her leadership and commitment of investing $200 million for workforce housing set the tone for the legislative session this year. Without Governor Noem’s raising the bar to $200 million for investment into workforce housing, the dollars would not have had the broad support of the legislature, private developers and the housing industry.

While the workforce housing legislation went through a few iterations during the legislative session, the Governor’s concept of the investment into workforce housing remained primarily intact. We thank the Governor and her team, along with the legislature and the members of the 2021 Summer Workforce Housing Interim Study. Together the two branches of government worked to provide an answer that will work for every community in our state.

Governor Noem signed HB 1033 into law last week. The bill will take effect on July 1, 2022. The bill requires all of $200 million to be reserved for infrastructure projects.

Section one and two of the bill state:

  • Revolving loan funds of $100 million for construction of housing infrastructure, and
  • Grants for $100 million for the construction of housing infrastructure:
    • $50,000 million
    • $50,000 million American Rescue Plan Dollars.

Section three of the bill states loans or grants must be designated as follows:

  • Thirty percent of the dollars are for use in municipalities having a population of fifty thousand or more (Sioux Falls & Rapid City); and
  • Seventy percent for use in all other areas of the state.

The last section provision in Section three states: Any housing infrastructure project sited in a municipality having a population of fifty thousand or more may receive either a loan or a grant from moneys appropriated or authorized under this Act but may not receive both.

Section four of the bill provides:

Any grant made available by the South Dakota Housing Development Authority pursuant to this Act may not be for an amount greater than one-third of the project’s total cost.

Section six provides the definition of the term “housing infrastructure:

  • Rights of way;
  • Water distribution systems;
  • Sanitary and storm sewers;
  • Streets, roads, and bridges;
  • Curbs, gutters, and sidewalks;
  • Lift stations;
  • Excavation and compaction;
  • Traffic signals;
  • Street lighting;
  • The purchase of land necessary to accommodate projects listed in this section; and
  • Any other infrastructure project determined by the South Dakota Housing Development Authority to be consistent with the purposes of this Act.

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