Housing forum today at the Wilson
The public is invited to a special county-wide discussion about a key tool for growing Montgomery County, a topic impacting children, families, businesses and industry as the county looks to grow workforce and attract people to our area: housing.
The public meeting is scheduled from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Wilson Performing Arts Center. Special guest presenters include: Terry Lutz, CEO; Zachary Mannheimer, Principal Community Planner; Jeff Sabin, Director of Client Relations with McClure Engineering; and Sue Cosner and Bruce Hansen with Iowa Area Development Group.
Montgomery County Economic Development director Shawnna Silvius, who organized the event, said the discussion will center on ideas for a housing revolving loan concept and how it could be set up and utilized in the county.
“It would basically help us put a plan together to approach all aspects of housing, county-wide, so that we have the housing stock that we need to attract people,” Silvius said.
In addition to the public, Silvius has invited the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, city council members from each community, school board members from all three districts, the hospital foundation, industry leaders, contractors, realtors, and representatives of financial institutions.
Topics to be discussed include:
• Presentation on a potential County-Wide Housing Revolving Loan Program.
• Discussion on how to attract developers to build housing units in our county.
• Opportunity for public/private partnerships to leverage local dollars with possible state dollars to create the revolving loan fund.
• Examples of creative people and talent attraction incentive ideas.
• Q&A discussion encouraging audience participation.
“In rural areas, the cost to the infrastructure makes developments of sub divisions or neighborhoods too expensive and developers are unwilling to spend the money because they take on all the debt and lose money right out of the gate. The idea is to create a program as a revolving loan fund that will be replenished and used to attract developers. The fund would also be used for rehab projects as well.” commented Silvius.
Additionally, Silvius said there’s an additional funding source available driving the need to host this upcoming meeting.
“This is an opportunity for us to pool our resources to leverage opportunities that help our residents and businesses across Montgomery County. We hope the public will join us as their feedback and ideas are needed,” said Silvius.