Dane G.

Hansen Internship
Final Presentation
By: Kyra Lampe
Building Off 2019’s work
● Last year’s internship: Architecture-focused; developed potential models of
housing units
● This year’s internship: Marketing-focused
○ Trying to match the needs of the community with the assets that are here
● Main Objectives:
○ Review Previous Housing Work
○ Develop Existing Housing Marketing Plan
○ Develop Housing Resources Marketing Plan
○ Create Housing Market Demand Report
Review of Previous Work
● List of rentals on website
● FHSU Housing Study--2012
● HAT Assessment Tool data--2014/2015
○ Belleville, Cuba, Courtland, Scandia
● KU MBA Jayhawk Consulting--2016
● Landbank Research--2018
● Dane Hansen Internship 2019
● Ben Winchester Webinars
● Review of Norton County Housing Study, Lincoln County Real Estate Open
House, and Stafford County Home Developments
Existing Resources

● Nuisance Abatement Program in Belleville

● Landbank in Belleville
● NCK Homeownership Program
● Neighborhood Revitalization Program
● NCRPC - Household Weatherization
Develop Existing Housing Marketing Plan

● Refined RCED website to become more user-friendly and straightforward

○ Simplify process to find rentals and homes for sale on RCED website
● Generate county-wide survey to assess the demand for housing the county
● Meetings and phone calls with housing stakeholders in the county to gain a
better understanding of housing from their perspective
● Launched Republic County Home Expo
● Developed weekly social media posts/emails promoting the survey, Home
Expo, and general info about housing in Republic County
Republic County Housing Survey

● Who?
○ Anyone willing or wanting to
move within, to, or outside of
Republic County
● Why?
○ Assessing what is in demand
○ How people find out about
housing
○ How aware people are of their
resources
What people LIKE about Republic County

● RURAL
● Small-town living
● Safety
● Family-oriented
● Low cost of living
● Good schools
What people DISLIKE about Republic County

● Lack of jobs in certain industries

● Housing shortage
● Daycare shortage
● Distance from big cities
● Lack of shopping
● Small-town “cliques”
Who is taking the survey?
Where are people taking the survey?
 What industries are people employed in?

● Top 5 (overall): ● Top 5 (out of county):

○ Health Care ○ Agriculture
○ Agriculture ○ Health Care
○ Education ○ Retired
○ Government ○ Finance
○ Manufacturing ○ Government/Legal
A Breakdown by Income
● Median Household Income - $48,022
○ $1,200.55 in rent / mortgage per month
● Per Capita - $28,901
○ $722.53 rent / mortgage

● Median value of owner-occupied - $62,800

● Average cost of a home on the market in Republic County right now: $100,340

● Survey Findings:
○ Average Household income of respondents: $84,544.49
■ $2,113.61 in rent/mortgage
● Per Capita - $35,101.03
○ $877.53 rent/mortgage per month
Notes:
● Ages 30-49 overwhelmingly prefer to own a 3 or 4 bedroom house
● Ages 50+ mostly prefer to own a 2 or 3 bedroom house
● Out of all out of county respondents interested in moving to Republic County, 88% would
prefer to own either a 3-4 bedroom home
Notes:
● Of those in county who want to change their current housing, 50% are currently or somewhat
searching for a housing.
● 65% of people from out of county are currently or somewhat searching for a housing.
Notes:
● Of those who said “yes” or “maybe” to building a home, 73% were between the ages of 21 and 45 and
51% were between these ages and also married.
Newspaper
Newspaper

Zillow
Zillow

RCED

RCED
Major Takeaway from Survey Results (so far)

● High demand for 3-4 bedroom homes

● Demand for “move-over” housing for people who want to
downsize (could also serve as a starter home)
● There are gaps in how people prefer to learn about homes for
sale and how they actually learn about them
● There are gaps in people’s current housing and what they
actually prefer to live in
○ Gap is largely due to income limitations
Findings from Meeting with Stakeholders
● Realtors:
○ Greater demand for people looking to move from urban areas to do remote work
○ People are moving to be near kids
○ People under 45 are more mobile
○ There was no master list of rentals (currently finalizing)
● Landlords:
○ Lack of Market Rate Rentals (very small percentage are both open and market rate)
○ People are unaware of what they qualify for (lack of understanding about Section 8 and Section 2 housing
units)
○ Landlords struggle to recover from bad renters
○ Most landlords market their property by word of mouth
● Lumber Yards:
○ Most work is doing renovations
○ Cost to build a new home: $150,000+
○ Most renovations: $30,000+
○ Age is not really a factor in terms of people who are building new homes
○ Less than 5 new builds per year
○ Lumber Yards having to fill role as general contractor due to informal roles in rural areas and cost increases of
construction management.
Rentals in Republic County

● Census Lists 575 rentals

● Through stakeholder meetings, we confirmed ~230 rental units
● Of these units: 27 total units available, only 52% are market rate
○ 26 in Belleville (14 market rate)
○ 1 in Narka
● Overall, only 6% of rentals in the county are available and market
rate
Housing Life Cycle
 Republic County Home Expo

● Modeled off Lincoln County Economic

Development
● 15 homes = $500 listing fees
● Blecha Realty and NCK Realty both participated, as
well out-of-county realtors and private listers
● Designed Google map of all participating homes
● Created web page for all participating homes
● Additional marketing avenues, newspapers, radio
station, Facebook, Instagram, Facebook event page,
boosted posts
Develop Housing Resources Marketing Plan

● Promotion of the NCK Homeownership Program and the

Neighborhood Revitalization Program
● Built contractor/renovation resources web page on RCED
website
● Weekly social media posts to assist in promotion of housing
resources
NCK Homeownership Program
● May 2020: 2 out of 12 spots awarded
● August 2020: 7 out of 12 spots awarded
○ 5 belleville homes, 2 in other Republic
county communities
○ $84,000 used out of $144,000
■ $14,000 in grants for closing cost
■ $70,000 in down payment loan
assistance
● Ongoing promotion throughout the
summer via Facebook, Mailchimp,
Website, newspaper, and radio
● Promoted in collaboration with housing
survey and Home Expo
Potential Action Items
● Continue Home Expo
● Impact Investing in Housing through Community Foundation
● Landlord Meeting/Workshop
● Consider county-wide property management company
● Convert existing usable property into market rate rentals
● Consider a housing development that can serve as both a downsizing option for older adults or a starter
homes for younger people
● Encouraging rent-to-own transitions
● Continued utilization of land bank
● Maintain master rental list
● Apprenticeships/Internships for
○ HVAC
○ Electrical
○ Housing Trades
● Formal Housing Study
Case Study: Norton County
● What would it look like if we could provide the catalyst to…
○ Convert 15 dilapidated homes to move-in ready, affordable condition for first-time homeowners within 5
years?
○ Clear 15 dilapidated, non-repairable homes to build-ready lots for construction of new homes over the next 5
years?
○ 30 homeowners to each invest $50,000 worth in major home upgrades into their homes over the next 5
years?
○ 10 Republic County Homeowners to sell and move into an existing Republic County “move-over” living space
within the next 5 years?
○ 25 Republic County homeowners to paint their homes over the next 5 years and elevate the curb appeal of
Republic County?
continued...
● How do we begin to make these things happen?
○ County-wide Housing Study
● Funded by Norton County Economic Development and Norton County
Community Foundation
● Findings help to:
○ classify and value existing housing stock
○ develop a proposed incentive plan moving forward
 Pros Cons

High Demand for Rentals Small Number of Homes on the Market

High Demand for Market-Rate Rentals Section 8 and Section 42 units are sitting
vacant (also limited knowledge about what
programs people qualify for)

High Demand for rural quality of life and an Not a large housing stock to support that
ability to reach people with help of Internet transition

Demand for renovations and some home Limited number of contractors, access to land,
building and limited wages

People are able to age in place with the help of If they want to downsize and remain in the
home health agencies community, there are limited options

Programs such as NRP, NCK Homeownership Could utilize more programs that support home
Program, Belleville Land Bank, Nuisance renovations; not all cities in the county have
Abatement, and other regional programs land banks or code enforcement
Questions?