HOISINGTON -- Monday night, board members of the Hoisington Land Bank met to consider three new applicants for lots in the McKenna Meadows subdivision. After advertising for months, spring had sprung, and it appeared that every lot available under a Moderate Income Housing grant would be spoken for.
The Robinson, Shepard and England families each had a lot in mind for their new homes. Board chair Jonathan Mitchell, however, postponed the presentation of the England family’s application until the June meeting, noting that other options were being considered and they weren’t quite ready that evening to move forward. Mitchell added that if they ultimately chose to do something else, he had another potential applicant interested. That person, he said, grew up in Hoisington and is interested in moving back to the area.
Before he began, he also noted that he talked with authorities at the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, the grantors, to discuss a change in the administration of the grants. Originally, the land bank had intended to use Housing Opportunities Inc. to administer the grants, but when applicants said they wished to use different contractors, an agreement was reached to pay a fee to HOI for securing the grant.
The Robinson family, he said, expressed interest in the largest of the available lots. The Robinsons told the board that they intend to build a 1,700 sq. ft south facing home, possibly including a shop and a fenced backyard. After considering stick-built home or modular options, they had decided on the stick-built option, and had chosen a contractor. They would be signing their bank contract later this week, with construction expected to start soon. They anticipate moving in by November.
The Shepard family requested lot 6, with the option to take lot 3 if the England family opted out. They, too, intend to erect a stick-built home, but smaller, with about 1,550 sq. feet of living space. They also intend to build a privacy fence and plant grass, and promised to meet all covenants of the subdivision. They said they anticipate approval from the bank this week, and shared a similar timeline with the Robinsons.
After hearing their requests, the board approved their applications. Michael Aylward, who like the rest of the board also serves as a city council member, thanked the Robinsons and the Shepards for choosing that area, his ward, to build.


Matter of choice
In May, 2015, following the start of similar builds in Great Bend, Ross Vogel of Rural Housing Partners and Vicky Dayton of Housing Opportunities Inc. approached the Hoisington Land Bank, each with a proposal to build new homes at McKenna Meadows subdivision. Those lots, owned by the Hoisington Land Bank, were available to qualified individuals wishing to make an investment in a new home. As contractors, both entities wanted to secure the lots in order to market them to potential homeowners for new construction. They made the case that a contractor would only find it feasible to build new construction if more than one build could be assured.
While both proposals included plans for houses of similar size and quality, Vogel required commitment from four buyers before he would break ground on the first house, while HOI could move forward with one. This made the choice easy, and the board members chose to designate four of the lots as HOI lots.
Soon after, Dayton proposed to write a grant to the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation for Median Income Housing (MIH). The program would incentivise the builds with a total of over $55,000 per household. The amount included $25,000 to be used for down payment and closing costs by a qualified buyer, along with a Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Rebate worth $30,000 from the city. The lot would also be transferred to the property owner free of charge at closing.
Homeowners would need to make down payments of at least 20 percent on homes with a minimum value of $175. With the cash offered through the grant, the income-qualified purchaser would need to come up with a minimum of $10,000.
At the time the city agreed to move forward with the grant with HOI, both parties were not on the same page, it turns out, about who would ultimately build the properties once willing buyers were secured.
According to Hoisington City Manager Jonathan Mitchell, Dayton believed HOI’s contractor would be the exclusive builder. Hoisington Land Bank board members believed HOI would be a preferred contractor, but homeowners would be able to choose.

Perception is key
In February, all four lots were still available. When one potential homeowner requested to have a relative build their home instead of HOI, Mitchell, who is a member of both the Hoisington Land Bank board and the HOI board, addressed the issue.
As long as the public was under the impression they had to use HOI as their contractor, seemingly no one would come forward to apply for the grants, Mitchell said. Something would need to change, or the city would continue to have empty lots. The whole point of having free lots available, he said, is to encourage building and grow the city’s available stock of housing.
A compromise was agreed on, where the city would take over the administration of the grants, paying HOI $5,000 for their efforts in securing them. They would also list HOI as a preferred contractor for the additional four lots covered by the grant.
Once the first lot and house was spoken for, three more families applied through the land bank, each intending to contract with a builder other than HOI.
“It’s not that HOI does a bad job,” Mitchell said Monday night after the Hoisington City Council meeting had adjourned. “They have done a beautiful job on other builds they have done in Hoisington and the surrounding area.” He pointed to three duplexes recently built near the new Lincoln Elementary School as recent examples.
The problem seems to be one of perception, he continued. The buyers identify HOI with these types of builds, and they wanted something different, he said.