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A new year brings new hope for Ely city officials, at least when it comes to bringing a long-discussed housing project to fruition.
Shut out in an attempt for state funding in 2024, the city is working several angles to line up the money needed for a 37-unit, $9.2 million initiative.
John Fedo, the city’s economic developer called the push “a refreshing of our effort toward market rate housing, specifically workforce housing,” during Tuesday’s meeting of the Ely Economic Development Authority.
Clerk-treasurer and operations manager Harold Langowski agreed and said that Ely leaders are working strategically with area legislators - including both State Rep. Roger Skraba (R) and State Sen. Grant Hauschild (D).
“What are the possibilities of there being some legislative action on it?” asked Langowski. “I don’t know, but I do know if you don’t ask you get nothing. Roger sounded a little optimistic today.”
Hopes for Ely’s project were devastated in September, when the Minnesota Housing Finance Authority doled out over $39 million for projects across the state, but Ely’s application for $4.5 million was not included.
State funding was needed to bridge a giant-sized gap in the project budget, and local leaders say more housing is needed to attract and retain jobs.
Both Skraba and Hauschild backed Ely’s effort to obtain state funding, and an additional $39 million allocation to MHFA was designed in part to jump start rural housing initiatives across the state.
But according to Ely officials, most of the funding went to projects within a 60-mile radius of the Twin Cities.
“One of the elements of the request is the fact that outstate Minnesota, as we all saw when the map came out, most of those monies ended up in the third tier (of the Twin Cities) so outstate Minnesota came out on the short end of the stick,” said Fedo.
Hauschild expressed particular disappointment during a December meeting in Ely, and he has since teamed with other rural legislators in a bid to bring more state housing funds to rural areas.
“One of the things that Senator Hauschild talked about was going back and in partnership with other legislators from outstate Minnesota, particularly focusing in on the absolute critical need we have for market rate housing.”
Dubbed “Wilderness Escape,” the Ely project calls for a 37-unit, three-story, market- rate workforce housing project near Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital.
The city, through its housing and redevelopment authority, is working with private development company D.W. Jones, Inc., which has completed numerous housing projects across the state.
Once the project is completed, the apartment building will be owned by the Ely HRA.
Plans call for a mix of studio, one bedroom, two bedroom and three bedroom units, ranging from as little as 447 square feet of living space to better than 1,200 square feet.
The city got $850,000 in Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board funds for the project, while St. Louis County is expected to bond for over $2 million, with the city providing the land and the HRA contributing $350,000.
The MHFA money was identified as a key and final piece of the puzzle and city leaders are giving it another shot.
Langowski was scheduled to discuss details this week with legislators.
“I did speak to Representative Skraba and he is on the (House) housing committee,” said Langowski. “It does sound like they will get the wheels in motion.”
There are hopes the MHFA program gets additional funding that could be steered toward rural projects such as Ely’s, while the city has also requested that the project be part of a potential bonding bill.
