South Dakota governor says 'houses would be built' if legislature had done things her way

Gov. Kristi Noem said Tuesday a $200 million housing infrastructure loan and grant program would already be out the door if the South Dakota Legislature and her office had "done it the original way I wanted it."

"Those houses would be built and families would be living in them because it would have been out a year-and-a-half ago," the second term Republican governor said.

More: South Dakota's $200M housing development program could be delayed until August

That's after the former executive director of the South Dakota Housing Development Authority, the semi-independent agency in charge of administering grant program, abruptly resigned from her position in March. Noem would not comment on Lorraine Polak's departure.

The interim executive director, Chas Olson, was in the hot seat on April 20 in front of the Legislative Executive Board answering questions on when the earliest the grant money could go out.

"With the timeline we're on, if we can get in front of the July Interim Rules Committee and things move smoothly, we would likely be looking at somewhere in August for an application cycle," Olson said, adding that the money could go out as early as September.

Currently, the reason the grant and loan program monies can't go out is because SDHDA is in the process of making administrative rules and having them reviewed. It's the first time in the agency's history that they've been tasked with developing rules.

Noem's 'original way' would have been overseen by Governor's Office of Economic Development instead of SDHDA

This is the latest development in what's become more than a yearlong effort to get the $200 million, a mix of federal and state money, to developers and builders to create housing infrastructure.

More: South Dakota Housing Development Authority director resigns after 2 years

Noem had called for the program, originally meant to develop housing, in her 2022 budget address. She'd wanted the Governor's Office of Economic Development to review the applications and make funding awards. But the Senate, amended the bill, HB 1033, to have SDHDA oversee the program.

The final language of HB 1033 was unclear on if the housing would support low-income or moderate-income individuals, according to South Dakota News Watch.

While Noem signed the HB 1033, the funds sat dormant for the 2022 construction season.

The Senate retried to focus the scope of the program through SB 41 in January, this time aiming the funding at housing infrastructure with SDHDA overseeing the program and writing the rules for the program.

More: Gov. Kristi Noem signs $200 million housing infrastructure into law

Noem said Tuesday that the because the program is with SDHDA, the state is now tied up in bureaucracy with getting the rules approved not only by the Legislature's Rules Review committee but also GOED, which is attached to the housing agency for administrative purposes.

"I want grants to go to communities so they can get right to work and build houses," she said. "Because they instead turned it over to the housing authority, now it's run like every other housing federal program and it's just taken a long time to get it done."

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Gov. Kristi Noem blames delayed housing effort on SD legislature bill changes