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Northern Electric member Philip Boeke is settling into his new home in northeast Aberdeen. The Agtegra Cooperative employee moved from Nebraska into his brand-new Homes Are Possible Incorporated (HAPI) house in mid-December with his wife and young daughter.
 
Boeke says he was drawn to the HAPI development – and the home he ultimately purchased – because the house was the right price in a rural location.
 
“[I was] able to get into a brand-new home and [be] on the edge of town instead of in the middle of town,” Boeke said as he explained the reasons he purchased a home from HAPI.
 
Boeke is just one of the hundreds of homeowners who have worked with the Aberdeen non-profit organization since HAPI was incorporated in 1999. This year, HAPI will build its 200th home and begin work on its 11th development.
 
“The whole idea from us as a non-profit is to make this [homeownership] as affordable as possible,” HAPI Executive Director Jeff Mitchell said.
 
HAPI began as an organization that connected income-eligible families with down payment assistance and other affordable-housing programs. Since 2003, the organization has also been planning subdivisions and building homes for buyers to purchase.
 
In May, HAPI announced its largest subdivision will be located on nearly 60 acres of land at 3030 North Dakota Street in Aberdeen. The new subdivision is located in Northern Electric Cooperative’s service territory and about a mile north of the North Dakota Street and Fairgrounds Road intersection.
 

“The whole idea from us as a non-profit is to make this [homeownership] as affordable as possible."

HAPI is planning 81 lots for the first phase of the new Dakota Street subdivision and another 81 homes for the second phase. HAPI will work as the contractor to construct about half of the homes and the other half will be built by other contractors. The typical HAPI house costs around $168,000 but there are several income-eligible programs to help with the down payment and to reduce monthly mortgage payments. The homes built by outside contractors in HAPI developments often range in price from $180,000 - $220,000.
 
“Really what our goal is, is to make affordable houses available in our subdivisions,” Mitchell said. “The whole idea from the very start is you have a mix of homes.”
 
Mitchell anticipates it will take more than two years to develop the first phase of the Dakota Street subdivision. HAPI will move into the second phase as the subdivision progresses.
 
The non-profit organization has built a few homes in other communities, but Aberdeen is the only community where HAPI has subdivisions. As HAPI subdivisions have filled up over the past 15 years Mitchell says he has experienced first hand the need that is being met by the organization.
 
“If HAPI wasn’t doing this nobody else would be,” Mitchell said. “Housing makes a huge difference as far as sales tax revenue and job creation.”
 
Boeke says HAPI made it easy for his family to move from Nebraska and make their home in Aberdeen.
 
“Altogether between buying a new house through HAPI or a regular home I wouldn’t say it was any more of an issue or took any more time,” Boeke said. “For the dollar amount, and for what houses cost in Aberdeen, dollar for dollar that was the best buy around.”
 
And as HAPI breaks ground on its largest subdivision this summer it is hoping to make even more homes possible over the next several years.
 
 
By: Ben Dunsmoor 6/20/2018