Ribbon Cutting
Left to right in the picture: Carol Huffman, Bedford Place tenant; Dennie DeWitt, Bedford Place tenant; Vicki Berryman, GB City Council; Jill Nichols, HOI Board Member; Allene Owen, GB City Council, Dennis Mesa, Executive Director of Kansas Housing Resources Corporation; Jan Peters, GB Chamber of Commerce; H.A. Smith, HOI Board Vice President; Tom Thull, VP/Director of Housing & Community Development of Federal Home Loan Bank, Topeka; Barbara Hammond, HOI Board Member; Pat Michaelis, Kansas Director of Midwest Housing Equity Group, Topeka; Barry McMurphy, HOME Department of Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, Topeka; Jonathan Mitchell, Hoisington City Manager and HOI Board Member; Vicky L. Dayton, Executive Director, HOI; Christine Reimler, HOME Program Director of Kansas Housing Resources Corporation; Leroy Degenhardt, Northglenn tenant; Kathy Mesner, Mesner Development Company, Central City, Neb.; Michelle Zook, HOI Property Manager; Callie Miller, HOI Bookkeeper; Marilyn Degenhardt, Northglenn tenant; Matt Espinosa, HOI Maintenance/HVAC; Joe Baker, HOI Maintenance; and Mel Waite, HOI Board President.
It isn’t often that the team behind Housing Opportunities Inc. takes a break, but this past Thursday everyone stopped to celebrate last year’s completion of 11 duplexes in Great Bend. The 22 residences were all filled by March of this year as required by grants used to finance this income-based development.
Where wheat once grew, HOI has created a new neighborhood. The duplexes and a community building for the residents can be found in the 2400 and 2500 blocks 31st St., near the Cavanaugh Soccer Field.
Vicky Dayton, executive director of HOI, noted that Thursday’s ribbon cutting was attended by many of the development partners who helped make Bedford Place a reality. Some of the tenants also attended.
Tom Thull, director of Housing & Community Development of Federal Home Loan Bank, Topeka, was among those present. He commended HOI for its track record of doing the paperwork to develop housing projects such as Bedford Place. “Developing these projects is complicated,” he said. “We’re pleased to be working with you.”
“It’s the faces of our tenants that make every shred of paperwork worth it,” Dayton said.
“It’s very much needed, especially for communities like Great Bend,” said Dennis Mesa, executive director of Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, Topeka.
Another official who has helped HOI with multiple projects is Barry McMurphy, HOME Department of Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, Topeka. He noted that HOI has responded as more building requirements are piled on. The result has been residences with higher energy efficiency and tornado safe rooms.
“The properties are in excellent condition,” McMurphy said. “These people know what they’re doing and they’re doing it right.”
The HOI team won’t rest on its laurels for long. At Thursday’s ceremony, Dayton noted that Bedford Place was HOI’s 12th rental property. The 13th, Ark River North, a senior housing project in Sterling, has just been completed. Construction will soon begin on the 14th project, 12 units for senior citizens in Larned, known as MeadowBrooks.
