A legislative committee is issuing final approval for a long-awaited housing infrastructure grant and loan fund.
The fund is propped up with $150 million in state general funds and $50 million in federal COVID relief funds.
It took lawmakers and the executive branch two years to roll the program out. The money is earmarked to fund infrastructure build-outs for housing developments and projects.
The infrastructure must ultimately be owned by an entity that derives its power from the state.
That excludes tribal governments. Officials say a workaround could include tribes working with cities and counties within reservations until the law is changed. Still, some lawmakers remain concerned that federal emergency COVID funds might not make it to reservation communities.
The housing infrastructure fund had been stuck in procedural limbo since Gov. Kristi Noem signed the law in February. The interim legislative rules committee eventually finalized the rules in a meeting Tuesday.
The fund will go into effect in early July.
