Grand Forks - Community Land Trust
While Crystal was raising her family and pursuing her degree, Grand Forks Housing Authority was exploring a way to provide families like hers with greater economic stability by offering them homeownership opportunities through a Community Land Trust (CLT).
Regional initiative builds rural housing to drive growth - North Dakota Monitor, article published May 4, 2026
The Spark Building Initiative took off in 2024. Run by the Red River Community Housing Development Organization, the initiative aims to “take the risk off of the builder, off of the community, off of the lender, by serving as the developer,” Rotvold said.
Using funds from the Housing Incentive Fund and local lenders, the initiative contracts directly with builders to construct homes on lots donated by towns with fewer than 5,000 residents. It also helps to sell those houses and covers any appraisal gaps.
Rent Rebate program through Beyond Shelter, Inc. and LIHTC program
Beyond Shelter Inc. (BSI), began offering rent rebates with the construction of its first Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) property in 2001. Rent rebate programs offered at LIHTC properties require a developer to make a commitment to set-aside a portion of tenant rent to be paid to the lender on behalf of any household that moves from the property directly into homeownership.
North Dakota Housing Finance Agency, administrator of the state’s LIHTC program, encourages developers to offer the rebates by scoring these program applicants higher.
Minot - Linda S. Finding a home after the Souris River flood of 2011
Linda rented a home near the river that she was forced to vacate on June 1. After the waters receded, the City of Minot deemed Linda's home uninhabitable. The flood had opened a basement wall and water flowed through her home destroying everything in it. After the flood, accessible housing units were very hard to find in the community.
Linda lived in hotels, a moving van, and at least 20 shelters before finally getting into a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) temporary housing unit with a ramp. Linda never stopped looking for affordable long-term housing to apply for and her persistence finally paid off. In February, the Minot Housing Authority announced a lottery system would be conducted to determine which households would receive leases at Washington Townhomes, Minot’s first new affordable housing development in a decade.
Linda was one of 32 households who were lucky enough to have their names drawn for a unit in the first phase of the development. She says her new home has provided the opportunity to rebuild her life.
Bismarck - Edwinton Place
Edwinton is the third property in North Dakota serving chronically homeless adults, people with a disability who reside in a place not meant for human habitation, in an emergency shelter for a year or who have experienced homelessness on at least four separate occasions over the past three years. The other properties are Cooper House in Fargo, which opened in 2010, and LaGrave on First in Grand Forks, opened in 2018. Each has about 40 apartments with the tenants selected through a coordinated entry system serving North Dakota and West Central Minnesota.
Like Cooper House and LaGrave on First, most of Edwinton’s financing was provided by federal and state housing programs administered by NDHFA.
Learn more about NDHFA's homeownership programs at www.ndhousing.nd.gov/homeownership
Learn more about NDHFA's development programs at www.ndhousing.nd.gov/development