The newly opened HomeField Apartment fills a vital need in Fargo, N.D., providing 39 affordable homes for the state’s rapidly growing senior population.
Developed by Beyond Shelter, Inc. (BSI), the community includes six fully accessible units for disabled and frail residents.
The opening of HomeField, along with the groundbreaking for LaGrave on First, a 42-unit permanent supportive housing development for chronically homeless individuals in Grand Forks, N.D., propels the nonprofit developer over the 1,000-home milestone.
The Fargo Housing and Redevelopment Authority started BSI in 1999, providing it with a $5,000 operating loan and the support of its staff.
Since that time, BSI has grown into a fully independent nonprofit organization that’s developed 37 affordable housing communities with a total development cost of more than $162.5 million, according to CEO Dan Madler.
In addition to its home state, BSI works in Minnesota and South Dakota.
“Ninety percent of the renter households that the organization serves earn 50% of the area median income (AMI) or less,” Madler says, noting that 56% earn 30% of the AMI or less.
While BSI has developed a variety of affordable housing communities, its recent work has focused on permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals and housing for seniors.
In North Dakota, the number of seniors is expected to surge 50% (from 98,595 in 2011 to 148,060 in 2025), with the overall state proportion rising to 17.6%, according to a report by the Center for Social Research at North Dakota State University (NDSU) for NDSU Extension Service.
“Projects like HomeField Apartments will be more important than ever in serving aging residents and keeping our communities vibrant and strong,” says Jolene Kline, executive director of the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA).
The development is the fourth senior housing project that BSI has developed in Fargo in four years. In a sign of the demand for the affordable homes, the new development was 90% pre-leased before residents could even see the finished building and was 100% occupied in about 54 days, according to Madler.
There are 33 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom homes, with eight units digging deep to target residents earning no more than 30% of the AMI and 31 units for those earning up to 60% of the AMI. Rents range from $388 to $696 a month.
Meals on Wheels makes deliveries to the building, where residents can either choose to have their meals in the community room or have their meals delivered directly to their apartment home. Case-management services are also available.
The $6.87 million development was financed largely with low-income housing tax credits that were awarded by NDHFA, which were used to generate nearly $6.2 million in equity from Wells Fargo.
“HomeField Apartments is an excellent example of our efforts to better link housing and supportive services so that residents can stay in appropriate and affordable housing and age in their homes longer,” Kline says. “This results in better quality of life for our seniors and significant savings for the community and state on health care.”
In addition, the city of Fargo committed $165,000 in HOME funds and $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to help buy down the cost of the land on which the property is located. The North Dakota Department of Commerce Division of Community Services also contributed $377,893 of HOME funds for the construction of HomeField.
While it’s nice to talk about how a development was put together, the impact on residents is what’s most important, according Madler.
“It’s all about the families,” he says. “From the perspective of Beyond Shelter as a mission-driven nonprofit developer, we look at affordable housing as foundational to everything else. In addition to meeting the basic needs for shelter, affordable housing is a component for positive life outcomes. We help improve residents’ health, education, employment prospects, safety, and the quality of life.”
