Laborers’ Home Development Corp. opened a 50-unit apartment complex in Denison last year and is considering developing a similar complex in Jefferson. REBECCA MCKINSEY | DAILY TIMES HERALDAn apartment complex in Denison that opened last year has 50 units with one, two or four bedrooms. The developer is considering building a similar complex in Jefferson. REBECCA MCKINSEY | DAILY TIMES HERALD

Jefferson eyes 42-unit apartment complex

Similar Denison complex, which includes low-income options, opened last year

By REBECCA MCKINSEY
r.mckinsey@carrollspaper.com

Jefferson and Greene County have a detrimental dearth of housing, many agree.

And now, at least one solution might be on the table: A developer is considering building an apartment complex with low-income assistance in Jefferson.

Laborers’ Home Development Corp., which is based in Springfield, Illinois, finished a 50-unit apartment complex in Denison last year — the developer’s first foray into Iowa.

Jefferson might be its next. The developer is applying for a federal tax credit that would move the proposed Jefferson project forward, said Jayne Lourash, assistant director with Laborers’ Home Development Corp.

Several housing studies, one sponsored locally last summer by Greene County Development Corporation and another completed this summer by Des Moines-based RDG Planning & Design as part of the county’s Vision 2020 plan, determined that Greene County’s housing needs work, said Ken Paxton, Greene County Development Corporation’s executive director.

“(RDG) found there’s a significant lack of housing and that we were in worse (shape) than just about any other county they’d seen,” he said.

The studies found that in particular, Greene County needs to offer more two- and three-bedroom units and rental housing, Paxton said.

Right now, 30 percent of Greene County’s workforce lives outside the county, but 70 percent of those people would live within the county if housing were available, he added. In addition, the lack of housing available within the county makes it difficult to fill open jobs.

“(The housing lack) really is a detriment to our growth and supporting our major employers,” Paxton said. “This housing project would be right in the middle of it. It’s exactly what we need.”

This housing offering would attract employees working at lower-paying jobs in Greene County who couldn’t live outside the county and commute a long distance to work every day.

“It’s not cost-effective for them to do that,” Lourash said. “When they see this, they’ll snap them up. Everything points to this for partially fulfilling the need in Jefferson.”

For about a year, since the unveiling of the Denison complex, economic development officials in Jefferson have courted the Illinois developer, which recently decided to apply for federal tax credit assistance for the proposed Jefferson complex — moving the project a step closer to reality. If Jefferson’s project is approved, the developer would receive federal tax support to help cover construction costs in exchange for offering low-income-eligible housing at the complex, Paxton said.

The developer should find out this winter whether Greene County was approved for the tax-credit assistance; if so, officials hope to break ground on the housing complex next year.

The proposed complex would stand on a 12-acre plot owned by Greene County Development Corporation east of Highway 4 and south of Jefferson’s Super 8 motel. It likely would include single-story duplexes or fourplexes, Lourash said.

Similarly to the one in Denison, Jefferson’s complex would include units with rents priced on a sliding scale for residents who make less than the county’s median income — which is more than $40,000 in Jefferson.

The Denison complex filled up quickly — only two are vacant right now — and the developer is considering building a second complex there. Lourash estimated that about 60 percent of the residents at the complex moved there from elsewhere in Denison, while 40 percent moved there from outside the area.

The apartment setup tends to attract families as well as senior citizens looking to downsize their housing, Lourash said.

“The widow trying to mow the grass, shovel the snow and walk the stairs, and she wants to put her family home up for sale but she doesn’t want to leave Jefferson — she’s going to sell her house to the family making $40,000 and she’s going to come live with us,” she said.

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