Larned (Kansas) Community Web Site

LARNED - This city's efforts to attract a new housing program were praised Monday by the state official overseeing the project.

Randy Speaker, Kansas Secretary of Housing, was in Larned to officially announce the selection of the town as one of eight that will participate in the first round of the Kansas Housing Cost Analysis Program. Using state and federal money, officials will spend the next three years building two houses every six months in each of six economic districts.

"I think the real key is the community itself and the private sector stepping forward," Speaker said at a brief ceremony at the site of the first house. "Larned has shown some real leadership in that it came up with an excellent site."

Larned, like other towns selected for the program, was responsible for donating a lot that met the department's requirements for the house. The selected site is at 7th and Anne.

Mayor Allan Mead said he hoped the donation would help ease housing problems in the city.

"In Western Kansas there are a lot of towns with a housing shortage, and Larned is one of them," he said. "Hopefully, this project will lead other contractors to build here. We're thrilled about this project."

The department is building the houses in an attempt to collect information about construction and housing in the state.

The architects who presented suggested designs for the houses were given a starting estimate of about $75,000, but the actual cost of building is one of the things the project is trying to determine, Speaker said.

Half of the original construction will be funded by local lenders and as much of the building as possible will be bid to local businesses, Speaker said.

Once the houses are built, they will be listed with a local real estate agent and the first mortgage will be financed through a local lender.

The houses will be available to families whose incomes are below 115 percent of the area's median income, and the Division of Housing will help with down payments and closing costs for families whose incomes are at or below 80 percent of the area median income.

Proceeds from the sale will be reinvested back into the program to pay for the building of more homes, Speaker said.

The initial houses will be ranch-style and split-level, based on the results of a design contest held earlier this year. Speaker said a second contest will be held later to select a second group of designs, including houses that would blend in with a community's older houses and houses that can be built on smaller lots.

The other communities selected for the initial building project are Burlington, Emporia, Lebo, Parsons, Sterling, Stockton and WaKeeney.