🎥 Ellis County Housing Rehab program looking for applicants

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Ellis County Housing Rehabilitation program seeks to fill a need for medium-income housing in Hays, but officials acknowledge it is not operating at capacity.

The program was started in 2016 by the Ellis County Economic Development Corp., which is now Grow Hays. The program was originally funded through a grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.

“The theory is to provide funding to contractors, Realtors or handymen to be able to buy a home that is in need of repair and to make those repairs to it and upgrades and then to resell it at a maximum price of $145,000,” Doug Williams, Grow Hays interim director, said.

The community benefits because the recipient takes a dilapidated home and turns it into a habitable home and improves the neighborhood, Williams said. It provides housing in a segment of the market that is affordable. It allows the person renovating the home to make a profit, and most of the materials for the rehabs are purchased in the community, which also helps the local economy.

“It’s a win-win deal,” Williams said. “We provide funding for 100 percent of the project at no interest.”

Brady Reed and his brother rehabed a home at 300 E. 25th St., and Brady is under contract on a second home on Willow Street. Reed is a real estate agent by day, but he and his brother did some of the work on first the home themselves.

The house on 25th Street sold for a couple thousand dollars shy of asking price and was on the market less than two months. The brothers made money on the project, Brady said.

“I would absolutely recommend the program,” he said. “I know you are trying to get the word out about it. I bring it at work to clients, and a lot of people don’t know about it. I think if more people knew about it, it would get used. I think it is a fantastic program.”

For applications to be accepted, developers have several requirements that must be met: a minimum of $10,000 in renovations, the project has to be completed in nine months, and the home selling price is capped at a $145,000. The houses have to be single-family homes and can not be used as rentals.

“I don’t talk to any community in Kansas or anywhere else that does not talk about affordable housing,” Williams said, “so it is not unique to us.”

A housing needs study conducted in June 2017 by the Fort Hays State University Docking Institute of Public Affairs for the city of Hays indicated housing costs in Hays are the highest in western Kansas. Hays residents also pay a higher percentage of their income on housing, the study said.

The study also indicated Hays has a high percentage of older homes. Forty-three percent of its housing stock was built before 1970. Fewer new homes are also being built. Only 0.1 percent of the homes were one year old or less.

The study also indicated even a small growth (0.25 percent) in the Hays population would further worsen the housing shortage.

Yet at the same time, landlords in the last year have expressed concerns about an overabundance of open rentals in the city.

“It’s a great program for someone who has a set of skills, who can do some of the work themselves and can manage a project. It is a good opportunity,” Williams said of the housing rehab program.

Williams, who is also a real estate broker, said Hays is seeing more opportunities to take advantage of the program.

“Because we have softened in the market, and certain price ranges have become softer, the opportunity to buy a home and make some improvements and resell it, I don’t think has ever been better. I think it is a really good time to do it. The market remains strong, but the low end has softened, so there are some bargains out there.”