South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) awarded Jeff Mitchell with the “Friend of Housing” award during SDHDA’s 26th Annual Housing Conference held last week in Pierre. Mr. Mitchell was honored for his dedication and contribution to affordable housing in South Dakota. He serves as an integral housing advocate to his community and also to the region on housing related issues.

South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) is pleased to announce Barb Griess as the recipient of the annual Elmer D. Whitepipe Award of Excellence during SDHDA’s 26th Annual Housing Conference held recently in Pierre

The South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) is pleased to announce the seven top Loan Officers for SDHDA First-time Homebuyer loans. The top SDHDA Loan Officers of 2016 are: Joshua Osborne, Plains Commerce Bank, Sioux Falls, Area 1; Melanie Hodorff, Great Western Bank, Watertown, Area 2; Cindy Fredrich, BankWest, Pierre, Area 3; Lori Norby, CU Mortgage Direct, Madison, Area 4; Lynal Jensen, First Bank & Trust, Brookings, Area 5; Julie Brownell, Plains Commerce Bank, Aberdeen, Area 6; and Betsy Heyden, First Fidelity Bank, Burke, Area 7

Led by U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, 41 Senate Republicans today wrote to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew encouraging the Treasury Department to abandon proposed regulations that would significantly increase the estate tax burden on family farms and businesses. The proposed regulations, if finalized, would contradict long-standing legal precedent and greatly discourage families from continuing to operate and grow their farms and businesses for eventual transfer to future generations.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today it is charging a Rapid City, South Dakota, landlord with housing discrimination after she refused to rent an apartment to a woman and her daughter. According to HUD's charge, the landlord allegedly denied housing to the family stating, “I decided to go with a bachelor. In the past, I have always rented to bachelors, that has worked best.”

Approximately $14.7 million is available for funding during the 2016 application cycle for the HOME Investment Partnerships, Housing Tax Credit, Housing Opportunity Fund and Housing Trust Fund programs. Funding can be utilized to assist communities in addressing their local housing needs.

Applicants for the HOME and Housing Tax Credit programs may document utility calculations from service providers, use the HUD Utility Schedule Model, or they may utilize the SDHDA Utility Allowance Worksheet to request the utility calculation from SDHDA. If SDHDA will be assisting you in providing Utility Allowance Calculations for your upcoming HOME/HTC Application, please submit all required information to SDHDA no later than July 29, 2016. For more information regarding the worksheet or utility calculation, please contact Slade Weller at slade@sdhda.org or by calling (605) 773-3181

The 2016 Statewide Point-in-Time Homeless Count that was conducted on Jan. 26, 2016, revealed that 1,186 individuals were homeless in South Dakota. This number represents a 14 percent increase from the 2015 count of 1,036 individuals.

Primarily responsible in assisting the South Dakota Housing for the Homeless Consortium in creating and achieving goals. Duties will consist of outreach to all areas of South Dakota to build relationships and enhance coordination of services; oversight and facilitation of the statewide Continuum of Care (CoC); prepare and submit Exhibit 1 of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) CoC application; coordinate and compile information and data, including the annual statewide homeless count, for reporting to HUD, for completion of the CoC application, for program planning, and for out-come based program evaluation. This position will work with both federal and state funded programs

The public is invited to review and provide comments regarding South Dakota’s 2015 Annual Performance Report (APR) prepared by South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The APR describes progress made towards meeting the goals outlined in South Dakota’s 2015 Annual Action Plan.