At the latest Sioux Falls Accessible Advisory Board meeting members hit the road for a bus tour. They did so to see some of the projects in the works.
At the meeting, board members and other people involved in accessible and affordable housing in the area got to see some of the projects they’ve helped create up close and personal.
Logan Penfield is the Housing Development Manager for the City of Sioux Falls. He said
it’s important to actually see the projects, rather than just talk about them.
“These types of projects are ones that the board supports. We put recommendations for the contracts that help create them to council. So we 1, want to show the board the work that they’re doing, the time that they spend coming to those meetings, you know, reading all the materials, going through the project, discussing it. You know this is the actually the outcome," Penfield said. "You know, here’s the positives. It’s always powerful when you can see something in-person once it’s built as opposed to seeing a contract in front of you right? So, just being able to kind of link those two together.”
He added that it’s also important to do things like this, so the work doesn’t get lost. Penfield calls it “meaningful” work and often people don’t see what’s happening in the city.
“It’s a town of 220,000 people now. There’s a lot going on here. But with the funds that
the council and that we get from HUD [or Housing and Urban Development] that we do have, we are able to impact about 2,000 people every single year and to rehabilitate or create new or preserve anywhere between 150 and 250 units on a given year," Penfield said. "To be able to highlight some of the work that we’re doing in the community and show that off and say, ‘Hey here’s the type of projects we’re doing.”
This comes after a report from the South Dakota Multi-Housing Association showed a decrease in vacancy rates in the Sioux Falls area, meaning tighter rental availability.
