ELY- The Ely Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) approved the new housing feasibility study for the city at its Aug. 8 meeting, and gave executive director Joe Hiller the go-ahead to seek quotes from developers to build workforce housing based on the needs outlined in the new study. Hiller told the HRA, “the study clearly indicated the need for (workforce) housing in Ely,” predicting full occupancy within six months of completion.
Ely contracted Maxfield Research and Consulting LLC to do the feasibility study using a 22-unit townhouse project as a starting point. The housing study was the subject of a detailed article in the Aug. 4 edition of the Timberjay. The study outlined scenarios for a mix of townhouses and apartments priced for workforce employees earning 50 to 120 percent of the area’s median income.
The HRA approved the issuing of a Request for Quotes to get a housing project going because of tight deadlines to obtain new state funding allocated for rural housing. The state set aside a one-time pot of $39 million to support housing projects in rural Minnesota communities during the 2023 legislative session.
“The state usually funds around $4 million every year for rural housing,” Ely clerk-treasurer Harold Langowski told the HRA, “so this is one-time funding.” Langowski predicted the funds would get divvied up quickly. He said the city has been in frequent communication with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and based on those discussions, he advised the HRA seek a developer to work with, as recommended by the MHFA. Because the application deadlines for funding are in December, he urged that the HRA get an RFQ out immediately.
“We’re going to have to find a developer to work with us,” Langowski said, noting that if no developer responded to the RFQ or if none of the proposals received meets Ely’s needs, then Ely would make the case to MHFA that it could act as its own developer for the project, as it has done in the past for its previous HRA projects.
Ely has approximately 25 acres immediately east and south of the hospital campus area on the west side of the city. The HRA has been looking into developing the property with 22 townhouse units for several years now. It will consider alternative proposals to the townhouse plan so long as those meet the feasibility conditions outlined in the new housing study.