Traill County Tries To Keep Up With Growth

In Need Of More Than 200 Housing Units

February 8, 2015

Site Staff,

Traill County is dealing with growth spurts. More than 200 housing units are needed in the next five years to keep up with the rising community.

Eldra Forsgren has lived in Mayville for 53 years. She’s noticed more traffic in Traill County and she says its location is a big factor.

“Being halfway between Fargo and Grand Forks is kind of nice. I know that Hillsboro has had a lot of people move here who work in one place or the other,” says Forsgren.

Towns like Hillsboro were working on adding more jobs. Now that all of those jobs are filled, desirable housing is harder to come by.

“These are young professionals who are working who we really want in our communities. So it’s not really even the high end necessarily, it’s just the working people that would like something nice,” says Melissa Beach who works in Traill County Economic Development.

Young professionals that are working in Traill County aren’t necessarily living there. Many of them commute from the bigger cities to the north and south. The county’s goal? Make them want to stay.

“We need to develop some multi-family units. So get some apartments so people can come in and move and they can test out our community before they decide if they want to build a home,” Beach says.

And according to one local business owner, housing in the area could use some updating.

“We have a lot of older homes here that need, they need some TLC,” says Kathy Duval of Uniquely Yours Boutique.

If people are wondering why move to one of these new homes in a small town like Hillsboro? Locals say there are a lot of reasons.

“Everybody is willing to help everybody else out. I think that’s the biggest thing with the small towns,” says Duval.

“We have very good schools, I think, in Traill County,” Forsgren says.

Housing construction has been slow in recent years but officials are hopeful that the future will bring new homes and new faces. At least one apartment complex could be under construction in Hillsboro this year.