Fargo Prepares for Housing Demands into Year 2020

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The City of Fargo is looking ahead to see how its growing population will affect housing demand in the years to come.
 
The planning department is busy going over a recent housing study.

KVRR Brittany Ford Joins us live with more.

Brittany?
 
Alison and TJ, the last time that a housing study was done in the city of Fargo was 10 years ago.

But city officials say that with population growth and increasing housing demand, they can’t wait this long again.
 
“We have a projection of a 133,000 people by 2020. That’s five years. We have a lot to do in a short amount of time,”said  Dan Mahli, Fargo Community Development Administrator.
 
Fargo city officials and housing professionals are putting numbers to the growing issues of housing affordability and availability.

They are looking ahead at housing construction.

One major issue the study highlighted was the lack of affordable housing.
 
“A thousand households on the waiting list for that so we know that there’s a need, and this verifies that and gives a of projection information for the future so we can plan for that,” says Fargo Housing Executive Director Lynn Fundingsland.
 
An analysis done on housing construction shows that activity is at an all-time high.

Housing construction rates have doubled since 2013.

The study also brought to light how Fargo has become a high rental community rather than buying.
 
To keep up with the housing demand, the study recommends that anywhere between 590 to 640 more rental units will have to be built in the next decade.
 
The study is just a rough draft, and a finalized copy is expected to be released in the months to come.

Officials say updated information will help the city move forward in making the necessary changes.
 
“The first priority is going to be identifying the people that are going to have the housing needs and finding out what those needs are and building around that,” says Mahli.
 
City leaders plan on looking at other factors like transportation that contribute to housing growth and maintaining the demand.

A task force is being created to further discuss the study’s findings.

Reporting Live Brittany Ford, KVRR News.