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Posts Tagged ‘Rural Housing Playbook’
Rural Housing Playbook - It’s a Process
November 5th, 2009
One of the toughest tasks for rural communities is figuring out how to address the community’s housing needs. In an effort to help communities, the Rural Learning Center helped establish the Rural Housing Collaborative. Essentially a group of housing leaders in South Dakota, the Collaborative created the Rural Housing Playbook. We’ve talked about it previously (look here for those posts). Today, Rita Edwards, who coordinates the Collaborative’s efforts, shares some of her thoughts on the Playbook.
By Rita Edwards
You may have noticed the sign-up link for the Rural Housing Playbook in the right margin of this blog. I have promised (for a long time now!) to explain why I think the Playbook is an important tool and how I think it presents a different approach to housing development in rural areas.
The Rural Housing Playbook provides a process rather than a formula for rural housing development. BusinessDictionary.com provides the following definitions:
Process:
[A] sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc.) into outputs. These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached.
Formula:
[An] equation or a set of instructions that solves a certain type of problems (sic) in a prescribed manner. In a formula, the same set of inputs always produces the same output(s).
Since the Rural Housing Playbook was introduced in November 2008, I have described it as a process manual. It is a guide that can help direct communities through several crucial steps toward producing a successful housing development. From the very beginning I definitely wanted to distinguish it from a formula. No two communities can come up with the same inputs to produce the same outputs or results. That’s not what the Playbook is intended to do. The goal of the Playbook is to help communities develop housing that meets their unique needs, not to provide a blueprint or formula for developing any specific type of housing.
People aren’t going to learn how to develop housing in their communities by reading the Playbook. They will have to jump into the process and learn by doing. A “process approach” emphasizes involving all the relevant stakeholders. I think that approach is another factor that makes the Playbook unique. It promotes and encourages community-wide teamwork, collaboration and involvement to identify a goal or reach a result that serves the whole community.
Applying the process definition above to the Playbook, its modules serve as the “interdependent and linked procedures” for communities to “consume resources to convert input into outputs.” Each module presents different opportunities for communities to convert inputs (the talent, efforts and research of their residents) into outputs (a team ready to work together, a knowledge of their assets and needs, an identification of projects that meet those needs). Ultimately, the communities convert those outputs into whatever end result or goal they choose
That process approach-of bringing together the stakeholders that have an interest in creating a better community- is what sets the Playbook apart. From community engagement and self discovery to concept and design, the Playbook gives suggestions for building a t
eam and tackling the community’s housing needs together. Communities working through each of the modules can build a better knowledge of their own needs and what can be done to meet those needs. Because the resources and inputs will be different for each community, each output will be different, too.
The Playbook also presents an opportunity for communities to learn about housing development not only from experts and resource providers, but from their peers as well. The Playbook has been introduced in regional meetings that bring together representatives from several area communities. The goal of these meetings is to connect communities with one another, creating an informal learning network where they can learn from each other. In each of these regional meetings it has been rewarding to see communities connecting with each other, sharing information and ideas.
If your community is interested in engaging in the process, use the link to access your copy of the Playbook. Or, check out the Rural Housing Playbook website directly. As Coordinator for the project, I would be happy to visit with you!
Note: Individuals may also want to attend one of the regional Rural Housing Playbook Conferences. The next conference will be held sometime this winter in Britton, SD. Check back soon at this link for the date.
Tags: rural housing, Rural Housing Playbook
Posted in Rural | Comments (0)
The Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009
September 29th, 2009
While at the Rural Housing Playbook Regional Conference in Iroquois a couple weeks ago, I heard rural South Dakota community representatives say that in addition to developing new housing stock (like the Governors House), they need to (1) do a lot more to clean up old dilapidated buildings and (2) develop housing prices in the $40,000 - $70,000 range.
Recently, I learned about a bill before Congress - the Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009 - that could become a valuable tool for accomplishing both.
According to a fact sheet by an organization supporting the measure, the Regeneration Act would
“build the capacity of these local governments to prevent, demolish, manage, and reclaim vacant and abandoned properties through an array of effective strategies and tools.”
The Fact Sheet goes on to list the following as eligible activities:
- Implementing multi-jurisdictional or regional approaches to addressing the problem of vacant and abandoned property;
- Reusing properties in ways that will provide long-term benefits to the public, whether through the creation of green infrastructure, economic development, or other strategies;
- Encouraging innovation, experimentation, and environmentally sustainable practices;
- Creating new and sustainable employment opportunities for residents; and
- Starting or expanding land banks that establish public control over vacant and abandoned property.
I’m still trying to learn about the measure, but it sounds like an opportunity for communities to buy abandoned properties and develop innovative ways to get them back on the tax role. (Perhaps that would include the establishment of Purchase, Rehab, Resell programs).
What I fear, however, is that the measure has been written in such a way that small communities won’t be able to take advantage. I’ve read several other blogs urge their readers contact their congressional delegation in support of the legislation. Perhaps rural advocates need to do the same, and make sure that there’s a place for rural communities as well.
Note: Thanks to the Smart Growth America blog for making me aware of the Regeneration Act. In addition to this nice article, the blog offers creative ways for urban areas to look at growth issues.
Tags: Purchase Rehab Resell, Regeneration Act, rural housing, Rural Housing Playbook
Posted in Housing, Rural | Comments (0)
So what’s going on in Iroquois?
September 16th, 2009
Yesterday at the Rural Housing Playbook regional conference, we heard about a remarkable story brewing in Iroquois, SD. For the last 3-4 years, the community has focused on a housing strategy that local residents believe has helped bring in fourteen new students to their school. That’s nothing to sneeze at in a community fighting to keep its school open.
A big part of their housing strategy has been the development of Governor’s Houses by the Iroquois Housing group. In the last 3 ½ years, six Governors houses have been constructed, and a seventh is on the way. That’s remarkable for a community of 300 residents.
But what didn’t get as much attention during the conference is how Iroquois has successfully developed these home. I think that this part of the story is really remarkable because many other rural communities have been only moderately successful or not at all. So what has Iroquois figured out?
Four Tips for successfully developing Governors Houses
I’m sure there’s no easy answer to my above question. But as I listened to their story, I heard the following 4 tips that I think have helped Iroquois be successful.
1. Create a good hook: For Iroquois, the hook has been a $4000 gift to anyone who buys a Governors House. This means that a community has to have a pool of money it can use for this purpose and is willing to give that money away. But at the end of the day, offering an incentive like this is just good marketing.
2. Keep your development costs low: It probably goes without saying that keeping the development costs low will make selling a house more attractive, but there’s another reason this is important for Governors Houses. The income qualifications limit the number of individuals who can qualify. If the development costs are too high, the individuals who qualify can’t afford it - even though they qualify. In Iroquois, everyone - from the volunteers, to the contractor, and to the city - has made contributions to keep the costs low. That’s what it takes.
3. Community members need to be champions: If your community has a malcontent who meets potential homeowners, selling any houses in your community can be pretty tough. In Iroquois, the opposite appears to be true. There, we heard a story about a grocer who rolled out his best salesmanship skills to convince a couple, who had stopped in at his store, that Iroquois was right for them.
4. Make sure you have good financing options: Many individuals finance the purchase of Governors Houses with USDA 504 loans, USDA direct loans, and SDHDA First-time homebuyer programs. But Iroquois residents have additional financing options offered by NESDEC and BASEC. The added resources provided by organizations like these can be invaluable to closing the deal.
In sum, it really takes a team effort to make the project work. And the team in Iroquois has been getting the job done.
Photo note: The photos are of several new houses that have been built in Iroquis in the last three and one-half years.
Tags: Governor's House, Iroquois SD, Rural Housing Playbook, South Dakota
Posted in Housing, Rural | Comments (0)
Why do I write this stuff
September 16th, 2009
I have to admit that lately I’ve been questioning why I spend so much time writing stuff about rural communities. After all, couldn’t I make a bigger impact on the rural communities if I spent my daily efforts working in a rural community like I used to? Could I do more if I were an economic development director in a rural community?
But yesterday at the Rural Housing Playbook Conference, Joe Fiala of the On Hand Development Corp. in Miller, SD reminded me that there is value in having blogs where people can dream out-load, and where we can ask questions that seldom get asked. Questions like “Does your community need a coffee shop?”
What Joe told me
I think Joe and I had only meet once before, so I was surprised when Joe came up to me and said that he was both a regular reader of ReImainge Rural and that he occasionally used a blog post to generate conversation with his board members at meetings.
Instead of uttering, “Seriously?” (which probably showed on my face), I thanked him and asked how he was using it to generate conversation.
He explained that he occasionally prints off a post, gives it to board members, and asks them to talk about it. For instance, a while back he gave them a copy of “Does your community need a coffee shop?” and asked them to think about where new residents and younger people in Miller go to socialize and why having such a place would be important. I was impressed to hear that they were talking about the role coffee shops play in community development work. It’s the type of stuff most economic development groups don’t think about.
The coffee shop idea didn’t make the cut
Later in the conversation, Joe somewhat sheepishly admitted that they are not actively working to develop a third place in Miller. I think Joe didn’t wanted to hurt my feelings, but he was honest in saying it did not make their list of projects to work on.
Far from hurting my feelings, I was ecstatic. Something I had written had caused an economic development group to “reimagine” their work. They were digging in, conversing, and rethinking what they wanted their community to be like. To me that’s incredible. (By the way, that’s the “U Process” at work.)
Admittedly, I think every community needs a coffee shop that serves as a third place. I think they increase the community’s social capital that will in the long run help the community get more things done. In other words, community members are less likely to waste their time fighting each other over the projects they are working on, resulting in increased productivity.
But that doesn’t mean that I think Miller’s economic development group should invest their time and energy into making it a reality. They may have more important stuff to work on, and should be congratulated for just thinking about it.
Ok, I am a little disappointed
If anything disappointed me about our conversation, it was that neither Joe or his board have joined in the conversation on ReImagine Rural.
When we created the tag line “Building a deep conversation about the future of rural” we did so did so because we believe that generating conversations is key to building a brighter future for rural communities.
Never have we felt that our experiences at the Rural Learning Center provide us with all the answers. Nor do we believe that others should be “listening” to us. Rather it’s about raising issues, asking questions, sharing ideas, and rethinking the future. And that’s where Joe (and you) come in.
I could tell from our short talk that Joe can contribute to the conversation. I asked him if he’d consider posting comments about the importance of third places. I’m hoping that he’ll even write a guest post or two someday about other subjects. If he does, I’m confident that his contribution will help someone else who is wrestling with similar issues.
It takes time
I know that it takes time to write comments or guest posts for blogs. And I know that it can take time away from the more immediate projects that everyone is working on.
In fact, as I reflect on the questions I posed at the top of this post, I think that’s what I’ve been wrestling with. Is there value in writing about rural community issues as I do on this blog? Or should I be spending my time “doing” something as I try to help rural communities.
Only time will bear an answer, but for now, I’m going to keep plugging away. The one thing that I am sure of, however, is that rural communities across America will benefit from YOU joining the conversation.
Note: If you want to join the conversation, feel free to send me an e-mail at mike@ruraltransformations.com
Photo Credit (top right): limaoscarjuliet - Flickr
Tags: coffee shop, Miller SD, Rural Housing Playbook, social capital, third places, u process
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Housing, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (0)
The Rural Housing Development puzzle
September 9th, 2009
If your rural community is “puzzled” by housing development, then you should consider attending the Rural Housing Playbook Regional Conference in Iroquois, SD on Tuesday Sept. 15.
I’ve talked about the Rural Housing Collaborative, and as I described back in Nov. 2008:
The Rural Housing Playbook is about creating a plan for your community’s housing needs and not just building a specific housing project. Everybody wants to see action, and a project does that. But a project is more likely to fail when it is not a part of a community plan.
The Rural Housing Collaborative has produced a process they believe helps rural communities in this process. It’s a process that I wish I’d been able to use back when we first started doing housing development in Miner County.
I hope to attend because, in addition to explaining the playbook process, the conference will showcase the housing activities of two South Dakota communities — Doland and Iroquois.
If you haven’t registered, make sure you click on the link to the right and complete the registration form. There’s no cost to attend, but they do want to know you’re going to be there.
Tags: Iroquis SD, rural housing, Rural Housing Collaborative, Rural Housing Playbook
Posted in Housing, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (0)
Rural Housing Playbook Presentation
November 20th, 2008
Not surprising, my favorite presentation at the SDHDA Housing Conference was “Implementing the Rural Housing Playbook” by Rita Edwards of the South Dakota Rural Housing Collaborative. Rita was gracious enough to allow me to embed her presentation in the post below.
What I learned
A few of the main points that I took away from the presentation include:
- The Rural Housing Playbook is an introduction into the housing development process. It serves as a guide for rural communities who recognize the need to do something about housing but don’t know where to start.
- The real work will get done in a planning process that the Collaborative is implementing. (more on that in a future post). I really wish we’d had this process in place when we started our work in Miner County.
- The Rural Housing Playbook is about creating a plan for your community’s housing needs and not just building a specific housing project. Everybody wants to see action, and a project does that. But a project is more likely to fail when it is not a part of a community plan. Case in point, back in the 1980s, Howard, South Dakota had a rental housing development that failed miserably, in part because it wasn’t done within the context of a community plan.
- The Playbook currently focuses on single family housing and not rental housing development. That’s not to say that rental housing isn’t important in some communities. The Collaborative just didn’t have the resources to address rental housing.
- Housing Development is Economic Development, but just building housing won’t create a sustainable economy in a rural community. I think that statement fits well into the Rural Learning Center’s maxim “It’s all connected”.
To get your own copy of the Rural Housing Playbook, go to the Collaborative’s website . In a few days, they’ll have a signup form for you to complete. They will then send you an electronic version of the Playbook for free.
Tags: rural housing, Rural Housing Collaborative, rural housing development process, Rural Housing Playbook, SDHDA, South Dakota
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (0)
Posts from the Field
November 17th, 2008
This week is going to be scary busy. Tomorrow, I’m off to the SDHDA’s Annual Housing Conference in Pierre, SD. If all goes well, I’ll provide some reports from the field. I’m especially interested in the Rural Housing Collaborative’s presentation on their Rural Housing Playbook .
I’m also excited to introduce a new author on the ReImagineRural.com blog this week. Lindsey Karlson is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Rural Learning Center, and will be attending the “HomeTown YouthForce: Engaging the Entrepreneurial Generation” conference in Nebraska City, NE. The idea of developing strategies to work with entrepreneurial youth and to retain our young people is something that I wanted to learn more about. And Lindsey’s gracious enough to provide updates.
Don’t tell her I said this, but Lindsey’s a pretty smart person and an awesome writer; so you’re going to enjoy her posts.
If you are at either of these conferences and see our smiling faces, I hope you’ll say “hi”.
Tags: entrepreneurship, Hometown Youthforce, Rural Housing Collaborative, Rural Housing Playbook, Youth
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Housing, In the News, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (0)
Rural Housing Collaborative to Present Playbook
November 3rd, 2008
- Rita Edwards of the Rural Housing Collaborative
On Wednesday, Nov. 19th, Rita Edwards will present the Rural Housing Collaborative’s long awaited Rural Housing Playbook at the 2008 South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) Annual Conference.
In short, the Playbook is a process guide for rural communities seeking solutions for their housing needs. It walks communities through steps in the development process and helps them connect with available resources.
Attendees at the conference will receive a pdf version of the Playbook on a CD, and Rita will provide an overview on how to best use it.
The idea for the playbook emerged in 2001, while Jim Beddow of the Rural Learning Center was working with rural communities surrounding Mitchell, SD. It seemed that the communities understood they had housing needs, but few understood the steps necessary to do something about it. The Collaborative emerged to address these issues.
Composed of housing resource providers, developers, and community development practitioners from South Dakota, the Collaborative has been working on building a system to address these problems. The Playbook is one part of that system.
I’d encourage anyone interested in learning more about the playbook and Collaborative’s efforts to attend the conference.
You may register for the conference at SDHDA’s website.
Tags: rural housing, Rural Housing Collaborative, Rural Housing Playbook, Rural Learning Center, SDHDA
Posted in Housing, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (0)