Regional planning commission to use $1 million grant to build single-family homes in six northeast Missouri counties

MEMPHIS, Mo. — The fire had already been lit.

Now there is extra fuel for that fire.

The Northeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission (RPC), which serves Adair, Schuyler, Knox, Scotland, Clark and Lewis counties and 33 cities and villages within, received a $1 million grant as part of a budget amendment Gov. Mike Parson passed last month. This grant will be added to the funds already in place for NEMO RPC’s Housing Enhancement Northeast (HEN) project, in which NEMO RPC will build and sell single-family homes geared toward the workforce market.

“We’re having a housing crunch going about 40 years without focusing on new, middle-income housing,” NEMO RPC Executive Director Derek Weber said. “There’s a push for low-income housing, and a lot of the new construction is your higher-end stuff which really isn’t our true workforce of the nurses, the laborers, the teachers and all those folks.”

This budget amendment passed even as Parson vetoed several budget items. Weber had a nervous confidence about him while he awaited the decision.

“My stomach was churning all sorts of ways, not knowing what was going to happen,” Weber said. “I did feel confident that they weren’t going to veto it because it hit on a lot of the priorities that he has focused on throughout his term.”

NEMO RPC funded a housing study in 2022 for the city of Kirksville and also assisted with a housing needs assessment for Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Scotland, Schuler and Adair counties. During the assessment, they found that 420 homes needed to be built to fill the workforce needs in those three counties.

“I thought housing was something we could try to tackle,” Tri-County Electric Cooperative CEO Mike Scheib said. “Whenever we did that study and we figured out that housing was a huge need, we sat down with all of the legislators in our area, all of the elected officials, county commissioners. We sat down with mayors, councilmen, pretty much everybody we could. We also took the time to sit down with any of the businesses that were willing. We just wanted to find out what their needs were, what their struggles were.”

NEMO RPC received $120,000 each last summer from Northeast Power and Tri-County Electric Cooperative in the form of 0 percent interest loans over five years. 

Scheib said it was a no-brainer for Tri-County Electric to get involved in the HEN project.

“We’re always looking for ways to better the community, better things for our membership and our local businesses that we serve,” Scheib said. “Even if we don’t serve them, the members who live in the houses that we serve work in some of those businesses.”

NEMO RPC also had about $600,000 of capital within the organization to fund the Housing Enhancement Northeast project. This $1 million grant gives HEN a jolt that will allow NEMO RPC to cast its net even wider.

Weber said the support from the governor as well as Rep. Greg Sharpe was pivotal in getting the budget amendment passed.

“This really puts gas on the fire,” Weber said. “It’s rewarding to have a project that we built from the ground up. We really are kind of pioneers in our state for doing something like this, and to have the governor, the state of Missouri and Rep. Greg Sharpe back it and then get that funding, it’s very gratifying.”

These funds will replenish as NEMO RPC builds and sells homes.

“That was a key selling point to the governor and his staff, that the million dollars that we’re getting isn’t a million dollars returned to the state,” Weber said. “That million dollars could revolve twice in one year. Then you multiply that over however many years we keep this going.”

NEMO RPC will utilize local businesses as these homes are built, which is part of a growth mindset NEMO RPC aims to establish.

“We’re trying to not only build homes for the workforce but also try to help revitalize some of these communities in northeast Missouri,” Weber said. “We’re going to pay local lumber yards for the lumber. We’re going to pay for subcontractors, then someone is going to buy the house, then that’s going to start over. Those funds are constantly going to be revolving through our local business, local contractors.”

The first home is being built in Lancaster. Weber said it should be completed by early August. His goal is to eventually have a home built in all six counties NEMO RPC serves each year.

“Not every other RPC gets involved in this, but for us to best serve our region, it was something that we had to take a dive into because no one else really was,” Weber said. “We have to do whatever we can to get involved and make a difference.”

If this project proves successful, it could prompt other organizations to take on similar projects.

“I want to see (houses being built) from Highway 63 clear over to the Mississippi River and all across northeast Missouri,” Scheib said.