Dear editor,
The county’s Economic Development Director, Jonathan Goering, reported at the Dec. 21 meeting of Allen County commissioners that Allen County is one of eight communities to receive a Moderate Income Housing Resource grant. The $50,000 grant will allow the county to purchase properties they can give or sell at a low cost for housing development.
I have serious doubts that any builder would consider a free or low cost vacant lot enough of an incentive to build a house on it.
The first job would be to hire an architectural firm to design a low cost and energy efficient house of maybe 1,000 square feet that can be built for less than $100,000 if that is possible. The money saved on utilities plus no more rent payments would probably make the monthly house payment. The builder might have to be subsidized with some public or grant money to give him the profit the company expects.
If all of the above can be worked out, I am sure there are plenty of lots that would be available where old houses have been torn down over the years. Then the MIHR grant money could be used to purchase the necessary lots.
In summation, arranging all this will require some hard work and imaginative thinking to come up with solutions and lay the groundwork for building some new homes that would be affordable for potential buyers.
Paul Zirjacks,
Iola, Kan.
