Affordable housing coming to Rapid Valley

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Access to affordable housing has been an issue in Rapid City for a few years now and one realtor hopes to change that. A neighborhood of single-story homes is in the works in Rapid Valley that will look a little different than people are used to.

The most significant difference between the proposed homes and housing typically found in the area is that the new neighborhood will be designed to be more self-sufficient. The proposed homes will be equipped with solar panels and a mini split A/C to maximize their energy efficiency. Tim Teeslink with Solar Pro says this will go hand in hand with making these homes affordable.

“What we’ve done for this house particularly is we want to make the home as efficient as possible so that the homeowner is going to be able to keep their utility bills low so we chose very efficient appliances such as a mini-split and then inductive heaters for the elements for the stove,” said Teeslink.

Teeslink says choosing these appliances allows the home to be fully powered by solar energy during the day. Rob and Jami Poeppel are the realtors that own the land being developed and they say they took on this project to encourage home ownership for all people, not just those who can afford $400,000 homes.

“Well we’ve had a huge need in our community for a home that’s in the $150-$180k price range so we came up with the concept of a smaller home with no garage between 600 and 800 square ft. and the price that we’re shooting for is the $150,000-180,000 price range,” said Rob Poeppel.

Rob and Jami Poeppel say they have been overwhelmed with the interest shown in the concept of receiving more than 150 people on their waiting list.

Rob says the reaction to seeing their sample home has given them newfound motivation.

“At our open house, we had one particular home buyer actually start crying because she said she had hope again and that’s pretty motivating to us to try and make this become a reality,” said Rob Poeppel.

If planning and approval go according to schedule, the Poeppel’s hope to break ground on this neighborhood next summer.

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