Springfield, Land Bank Plan Housing Push
One Community Update
October 25, 2024
Source: Springfield News-Sun
Affordable housing has been one of the major concerns Springfield residents have voiced during recent tense City Commission meetings. The city now has announced a new effort to address that need, in conjunction with the Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation, also known as the Land Bank.
Using $1 million available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the two organizations are planning to build eight new single family homes on six parcels located in the 500 blocks of West Grand Avenue and West Southern Avenue, perhaps the first of several such projects.
Details of the project were unveiled at Tuesday’s city commission meeting, with commissioners expected to approve related expenditures at their next regular meeting Monday, Nov. 4 (that meeting is a day earlier than usual due to election day).
Kara Van Zant, development project director with the Land Bank, said the proposed homes will be 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. They are manufactured homes that will be permanently sited, just as any other newly constructed home would be. Standard features would include a full living room, dining room, utility room, a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, kitchen with pantry and center island, and a single car garage.
While the cost of construction for the projected homes is $193,000, there will be $33,000 in subsidies through ARPA, so people will be able to purchase them at a cost of $160,000. Down-payment assistance is also available for families who qualify by meeting federal poverty guideline financial criteria.
Called the “Grand Project,” construction will take place on plots where five homes had been abandoned. They had already been acquired and demolished by the Land Bank for community revitalization.
Clark County Community Development Director Ethan Harris pointed out that the Land Bank has also been involved in developing additional parks and recreational options in areas throughout the city.
“We understand you can’t just build houses without having amenities. Certainly there is a need for parks on the south side of the city.”
A second housing project is also in the works that will use scattered sites near the Dome at the former South High School. Called the “Liberty Project”, plans call for similar new affordable housing on 11 parcels of land that were tax-foreclosed and abandoned.
Van Zant said “the starting point would be six new homes … in an area already seeing revitalization.”
The Land Bank is marking 10 years of service to the community, playing a vital role in rehabilitating a variety of properties and revitalizing neighborhoods.
In addition to reclaiming blighted properties to upgrade affordable housing stock and adding amenities such as parks and recreational facilities, the Land Bank has also invested in reinvigorating industrial and business entities such as the former Upper Valley Mall, which is now a business park housing two industrial companies. The Land Bank also helped recruit Groceryland to South Limestone Street after Kroger closed in 2020.
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