Senator John Thune talks housing developments amid rapid growth in Black Hills

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Housing is once again a hot topic of discussion here in the Black Hills as Senator John Thune visited West River Friday to speak with city officials regarding expansion.

Senator John Thune visited with city officials Friday to discuss housing and expansion projects happening around the Black Hills. According to Dream Design International President, Hani Shafai, nearly two thousand apartments are currently under construction, in the planning stages, or in purchase agreements to start building in the near future. With the supply of homes not lacking, Rapid City’s community development director Vicki Fisher voiced concerns about whether or not the demand would be met. Senator Thune says in order to meet that demand, there needs to be more recruiting.

“If you got a lot of supply of housing you need people to live there, get people in here which means you gotta have jobs for them right? So that’s all again, reaching out and recruiting and trying to get companies, businesses to move their operations here to South Dakota and create those good paying jobs and enable people to afford housing in this area,” said Thune.

Another major point Thune made was the amount of growth the area has seen since the last housing update three years ago... largely in part of the work the community has done.

“We knew that there was going to be a significant expansion of the base with the B-21 mission coming here. A lot of new airmen coming in. With that comes demand for other types of businesses and industries and so you’ve just seen the community and the region the state step up to meet that demand and to take on that challenge and it’s been really exciting to watch,” said Thune.

Thune said despite the challenges that may arise within the next couple of years as the area continues to grow, he is optimistic the city as well as the state are going to be able to handle the responsibilities.

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