Self-help housing could be one part of the answer to Kodiak’s housing crisis if municipalities divest land

Kodiak’s regional Alaska Native corporation is requesting land from local municipalities to help address the housing crisis. Koniag, in partnership with the nonprofit Alaska RurAL CAP, pitched its model for self-help housing to both the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly and City Council earlier this week, on the evenings of April 22 and 23 respectively.

Koniag’s President, Shauna Hegna, who is originally from Port Lions, said the corporation partnered with the poverty-alleviating nonprofit Alaska RurAL CAP and the Kodiak Island Housing Authority over a year ago to come up with creative solutions to address the local housing shortage. Koniag has already done an economic impact survey to understand how it could bring more investment into the community.

“So as we look to increase that investment in our region, time and time again we hit one roadblock, and that’s that there is not enough housing,” Hegna explained. “There is not enough housing in Kodiak city, and some of our villages also have a lack of housing.”

The entities landed on a RurAL CAP program called mutual self-help housing, which Hegna describes as dozens of people building a home together. Bob Marquez, the Rural Housing Manager with RurAL CAP says his intent is to start with the community of Kodiak, but the long term plan is to focus on the other communities on Kodiak Island.

“And I really envision like a traditional barn raising, where we’re all out there helping to build homes,” Hegna said.

She stated that the program will not solve the housing crisis on its own but it is one step that will contribute to the solution. RurAL CAP’s Chief Development Officer Jasmine Boyle clarified up front that this is not a low income housing project.

“I know the question has come up in [the] community about if this is a project for people experiencing homelessness or people who are housing insecure. We do do that work. That is not this project,” Boyle said.

Instead, it’s a project to house the local workforce. That includes people coming into the community for a variety of jobs; like health care providers, teachers, and police officers, among others.

So far, the mutual self-help housing program has had success in other parts of the state, such as Soldotna. It was also proposed in other rural areas like Nome but has not been successful in communities off of the road system yet.
Mi’shell French, the director of rural housing at RurAL CAP, said the program starts with groups of nine to 12 families working together to build their own homes and each other’s.

“We typically will purchase the property, develop it as needed and then provide all of the technical assistance that the families need to own or build those homes from the ground up. All of the families work together and there is a requirement of 35 hours per week per household unit,” French said.

That hourly work requirement was a sticking point for Borough Assemblymember James Turner at Monday’s special work session. He said many folks who would qualify for mutual self-help housing are working long hours at jobs in the fish processing industry.

“And when we talk about sweat equity of 35 hours during the summer, which is basically four months for the Kodiak proper, you’re talking about 16-hour work days. And so for four months out of that 12 to 14-month period, they would be working anywhere from 84 to 119 hours,” Turner calculated.

But French said volunteers and friends, or even another family member designated as the head of household, could get involved to help meet that sweat equity requirement until the house is built, which takes roughly 12 to 14 months. Hegna added that Koniag has a number of volunteer organizations tapped to help with this specific community service project, if or when the self-help housing program breaks ground in Kodiak.

Regardless, all interested families would have to qualify for a mortgage loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program to participate. However, that comes with an income cap. Households of one to four can make up to $134,150 a year in gross income while a household with five to eight members can make up to $177,100 a year.

RurAL CAP wants to work with four communities across the state and build 39 new homes using this model. One of the biggest obstacles locally though is the lack of land available for development within the Kodiak area.

Hegna, with Koniag, said the organizations need to submit the grant application by June 24 for the USDA 523 Technical Assistance Program, or else Kodiak won’t be able to participate in the mutual self-help housing program until the next grant cycle in 2028. But before Koniag can submit the application, it must first acquire some land or have a letter of commitment, ideally provided by either the borough or the city.

Both the Borough Assembly and City Council expressed support for the mutual self-help housing program at separate meetings this week but did not formally vote on any action items. The Borough was meeting in a special work session Monday, April 22, and the city council was meeting in a scheduled work session Tuesday, April 23. It is unclear which parcels of land either municipality would offer up to the program, but the council directed staff to pursue a couple options for a future meeting. It’s also unknown how much the municipalities would sell or divest the plots of land for.

Featured image at top: Rhonda Johnson works with owner-builders in RurAL Cap’s mutual self-help housing program at a site in Soldotna on Aug. 31, 2023 (Adam Nicely/Alaska Public Media)