Room for Growth

Addressing Housing Needs in Flandreau

Carleen Wild, Enterprise staff


Where are the biggest needs for housing in Flandreau and how will the city work to meet those needs in 2015 and beyond? That is a big question, one a joint housing needs study done last year by the City of Flandreau and Community Partners Research, Inc, worked to address.

What to do with the information gathered, remains the question. 

There are projects currently underway to address what many see as a housing shortage in the community, the development of a new subdivision, South View Heights, is among them. But even how to properly build out that new residential development still remains a topic of discussion between city officials, the Flandreau Development Corporation and potential would-be buyers of the lots slated to go into the development on the south side of town.

Meanwhile, some of the other obvious needs the study pointed out such as additional quality senior housing, additional rental units, the promotion of programs that assist with home ownership for both city and tribal entities, the development of a housing incentive program, promotion of rental housing rehabilitation, and the development of a Downtown Mixed-Use Commercial/Housing Project as well as the promotion of commercial rehabilitation and development, remain relatively untouched. 

In the hopes of furthering not only the housing conversation, but also pursuing the right sort of development, the Flandreau Development Corporation is hosting a discussion with Dakota Resources and its Home Address Program on January 15th at 7pm in the City Council Chambers. 

Home Address works with a limited number of South Dakota communities each year to help address whatever unique housing needs might exist in a particular area. The program, once a community is selected to be a partner, offers training in housing-related topics, connections to financial sources, and a community coach to guide the work. 

"Home Address is a process designed to kick start strategic conversation and action toward co-creating the kind of housing opportunities people in your community want to see,” said Joe Bartmann, Vice President at Dakota Resources.

The meeting on January 15th is an open forum for those who might want to sit in. It is solely an informational meeting at this point, to see if Home Address might be a program the FDC and the City of Flandreau might like to partner with. 

“Housing in Flandreau is an incredibly important discussion, and it would be great to have more people involved” said Chad Weber, President of the FDC. “We want businesses to expand in this area, we hope to draw more business to this area, and as the communities around us continue to grow and get more expensive, there is a big need here for improved housing. We’ve really got to start working on these things together and explore what resources are available to us if we hope to grow and grow well,” said Weber.