Regulatory Barriers - Nation Call To Action: Reports

North Dakota: Statewide Technical Assistance Team (STAT)

North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA) staff and key housing partners formed a Statewide Technical Assistance Team (STAT) that helps rural communities struggling to address unmet housing needs. The STAT program and team consists primarily of representatives from nine federal, state and non-profit agencies. It was formally announced at the 2007 Statewide Housing Conference in March. Common issues are a lack of suitable housing for an aging population or appropriate housing for a growing workforce, particularly in energy corridor communities. The program assists local communities in defining housing needs, developing a housing strategy for addressing the needs, locating the necessary technical and financial resources, and carrying out the strategy initiatives. The assistance is delivered via a series of roundtables throughout the state. These roundtables includes the virtues and mechanics of doing a housing market/demand analysis as the first step, programs and resources currently available, and the STAT program commitment to providing technical assistance throughout the process. Thus far, events have been held in Stanley, Cooperstown, New England, Beulah, Rugby, and Rutland. Others are being planned. Fifty communities have participated in the roundtables, and they have been rated as an excellent preface to starting to address community housing needs. To encourage the market/demand analysis, NDHFA created a Housing Market Survey Grant program and committed $50,000 of Agency reserves to the program. These are cost sharing grants, 50 percent not to exceed $5,000, to pay for a formal housing study (the $5,000 maximum can be waived on studies involving multiple communities). To date, approximately $23,000 of the funds have been committed or disbursed.