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NUCOR Related Housing, Business Boom Underway

Mason County leaders said the business growth coming with the massive steel mill on the way will be life-changing

Mason County leaders said the business growth coming with the massive steel mill on the way will be life-changing. NUCOR corporate leaders say their $3 billion steel mill will need 2,000 construction workers to build and 800 teammates to operate.

John Musgrave, executive director of the Mason County Development Authority, said the demand for land increases by the day. He said one out-of-state housing construction company has purchased 200 acres for an upscale subdivision.

“This is a gentleman that ‘s been building out in San Francisco,” Musgrave said. “He’s a West Virginia native, and he was moving back here when he heard what was going on. He’s putting in a subdivision of some upper price range of homes, and then they’re going to do some moderate homes.”

Musgrave said state and local contractors are already working on several middle income housing projects.

“We’ve talked to a firm that’s located in Bluefield that makes a house that can be erected in about three days,” he said.

Development is also underway by private investors for upward of 1,500 housing units for plant construction workers.

These homes being built on converted farm and forest land will need infrastructure. Musgave said Mason County has a history of some of the best water line access in the state and he said the state government is helping with sewer line infrastructure.

Musgrave said his office is having conversations with numerous retail businesses considering coming to Mason County. He said the highlighted plan for retail business development includes revamping the declining small town of Henderson, just across the Kanawha River from Point Pleasant, into a hub of commerce.

“We’ll bring in box stores, restaurants, hotels. It will be an ideal location for any major given company that we’d want to deal with,” Musgrave said. “Henderson has been identified as one of the best sites for commercial development between Charleston and Columbus, and is very well situated on the four lanes of Route 35. It also has the cloverleaf there that makes it really easy to get on and be right there.”

NUCOR is located on two-lane Route 2 that runs along the Ohio River from Point Pleasant to Huntington. Musgrave said the plant will put a third lane in for a few miles either side of their site, and the hope is the state will improve more of what’s expected to be a busy thoroughfare.

“We’ve met with Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston and they are working on it,” Musgrave said. “It’s in bad shape, there’s no question about that, and we’ve pointed that out.”

Musgrave said there are another “couple of industries” that have taken options on property that haven’t been announced yet. He said he expects Mason County’s overall growth to be remarkable.

“I think in the next 10 years, Mason County has the opportunity to triple in population,” Musgrave said.

Food And Housing Aid Highlighted During Justice Briefing

A new state fund will help feed West Virginians in times of great need, and the Homeowners Assistance Program is still offering aid.

During his press briefing Wednesday morning, Gov. Jim Justice highlighted the Posey Perry Fund, an emergency food bank fund created in the 2024 state budget.

The governor declared that “nobody in West Virginia needs to be going hungry.”

“What it is, is $10 million of emergency assistance if something breaks through and we need an emergency level of assistance and for lots and lots and lots of our pantries and food banks,” Justice said. “Literally, we don’t need people going hungry in West Virginia.

He said the fund is named after his uncle, who worked at his local food pantry after his retirement from mining.

“He was the last survivor of my mom’s brothers and sisters,” Justice said. “Yet after he retired from the coal mines, Posie Perry made trip after trip almost on a daily basis to the food bank in Huff Creek. He worked it night and day.”

Housing Stability

https://wvpublic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/0412-0412-Housing-Aide-SPOT_4WEB.mp3

Justice also declared this April Housing Stabilization Awareness Month with the signing of a proclamation Wednesday. The recognition was a way to highlight the achievements of the West Virginia Homeowners Rescue Program over the past year.

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to assist West Virginia homeowners facing a financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Justice was joined by Erica Boggess, the executive director of the state’s Housing Development fund.

She said that despite the more than 4,200 West Virginia families helped in the past year, there are more people in need of assistance.

“We really want to encourage people to apply for this assistance,” Boggess said. “It’s important to apply sooner rather than later. You don’t want to wait till the day your utilities are going to be cut off to seek help – act now.”

Boggess said homeowners can get help paying for their mortgage, as well as real estate tax and insurance.

W.Va. Home Builders Desperate For BUILD WV Act Incentives

The BUILD WV Act was created in 2022 to grow communities across the state and attract new, workforce ready housing developments.

David Reitz is CEO of Marion County based Stella Construction. The veteran home builder has followed the state-incentive-laden BUILD WV Act.

Since it was passed into law last year. Reitz said he’s working to persuade Commerce Secretary James Bailey to create a BUILD WV certified district in his home county.

“We’re seeing a lot of growth from people that are working in Morgantown or working in Bridgeport, we’re kind of smack dab in the middle,” Reitz said. “There’s a convenience and a desperate need for middle income housing, here and everywhere.”

The BUILD WV Act was created in 2022 to grow communities across the state and attract new, workforce ready housing developments. BUILD WV offers up to three types of tax credits as incentives for housing developers, including a sales tax exemption for building materials, a 10-year property value adjustment refundable tax credit, and a potential municipal B&O exemption.

Secretary Bailey joined Gov. Jim Justice and others in Fayetteville Thursday to sign House Bill 3036 into law. The legislation increases the number of certified districts under the one-year-old BUILD WV Act and raises the limit on approved costs.

There was a limit of three undesignated certified districts within the act. The new legislation raises that limit without a number, including those who qualify under a set of economic development criteria within an annual $150 million overall threshold. The secretaries of Commerce, Tourism and Economic Development will make the district designations.

Bailey said the state has plenty of low income housing projects and there’s no limit to building expensive homes for those who can afford them. He said it’s the affordable, middle class homes that are in demand.

“There was not a program to help with affordable housing to meet workforce needs in many areas,” Bailey said. “This innovative idea from the governor really hit a sweet spot and the reception has been tremendous. We now have developers all across the state interested in it.”

Reitz said there are several constants for homebuilders across the state. He said land costs aren’t high, but excavation is costly, materials are very costly right now and it’s difficult for any developer to build that up at a lower price point, and just make the type of margin that you need to justify the effort. He said the tax credits this act makes available on building materials and property values could help turn a housing shortage into a boom.

“All those costs, municipal fees, B&O tax, all contribute to what the buyer is paying on the back end,” Reitz said. “Those costs just get passed on. The beauty of this bill is that it’s able to slate some of those expenses and make it more affordable and make it more appealing to do houses in that median price point.”

Reitz said as major corporations like Nucor and Berkshire Hathaway Energy build facilities that need hundreds of workers, housing challenges will increase – without some sort of change.

“It’s going to be a situation where, builders and developers are going to have to scramble to keep up because we just have such an older housing stock, at least up in our area,” he said.

Justice said the BUILD WV Act designates $150 million in certified district tax incentives for years to come, offering room for ultimate expansion.

“How in the world can we expect people to move here if we don’t have housing and affordable housing,” Justice said. “I mean, this isn’t rocket science. We’re going to expand this statewide.”

Federal Money Helps Fund Wide Array Of State Programs

Millions of federal dollars are coming to the state for a variety of programs ranging from affordable housing to mental health training.

Millions of federal dollars are coming to the state for a variety of programs.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, Tuesday announced more than $12 million for projects ranging from affordable housing to mental health training.

More than $1 million from the Appalachian Regional Commission will support increasing staffing and strengthening administrative capacities for 13 projects across the state.

The bulk of the money, close to $10 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will bolster 20 community-based efforts across the state to address homelessness.

The largest individual awards will go to the Huntington, West Virginia Housing Authority and the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, that will each receive close to $1.8 million to help connect individuals and families currently experiencing homelessness with vital supportive services.

Additionally, $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration Program will be split between West Virginia University and Concord University to support the training of school-based mental health service providers for employment in schools and local educational agencies across West Virginia.

The program provides funding to establish innovative partnerships between institutions of higher education and local schools and educational agencies. It trains school counselors, social workers, psychologists and other mental health professionals qualified to provide school-based mental health services, with the goal of expanding the pipeline of these workers into low-income public schools to address shortages of school-based mental health service professionals.

Federal Public Housing Grant Supports Multiple W.Va. Cities

The funding is planned to help upgrade and modernize 30 public housing projects statewide, with each grant for each housing authority adding up to $17.6 million in total funding.

Federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development is going to support public housing in the state.

The funding is planned to help upgrade and modernize 30 public housing projects statewide, with each grant for each housing authority adding up to $17.6 million in total funding. It comes from the agency’s Public Housing Capital Fund Formula Grant Program.

“Ensuring West Virginians have a roof over their head and a warm place to sleep at night continues to be one of my top priorities. Thousands of West Virginians and millions of Americans are currently experiencing homelessness, and we must work together to combat this devastating issue,” Sen. Joe Manchin said in a joint statement with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito announcing the funding.

Approximately 1,238 people in the state experienced homelessness in 2022, according to an HUD report.

Some of the largest awarded grants include more than $3 million dollars to the Charleston/Kanawha Housing Authority, more than $2 million to the Housing Authority of Huntington and $1.5 million to the Housing Authority of the City of Wheeling.

The full list includes:

$3,203,383 to the Charleston/Kanawha Housing Authority
$2,080,718 to the Housing Authority of the City of Huntington
$1,548,515 to the Housing Authority of the City of Wheeling
$917,453 to the Clarksburg/Harrison Housing Authority
$834,218 to the Housing Authority of the City of Martinsburg
$730,277 to the Housing Authority of the City of Williamson
$677,898 to the Housing Authority of the City of Beckley
$655,307 to the Housing Authority of the City of Moundsville
$587,038 to the Housing Authority of the City of Grafton
$484,533 to the Housing Authority of the City of Bluefield
$473,645 to the Housing Authority of the City of Parkersburg
$472,182 to the Housing Authority of the County of Jackson
$465,911 to the Housing Authority of Benwood and McMechen
$424,165 to the Fairmont/Morgantown Housing Authority
$419,561 to the Housing Authority of the City of Mount Hope
$410,445 to the Housing Authority of the City of Pt. Pleasant
$327,518 to the Housing Authority of the City of Spencer
$320,434 to the Housing Authority of the City of South Charleston
$297,897 to the Housing Authority of the City of Dunbar
$275,860 to the Housing Authority of the City of Weirton
$254,458 to the Housing Authority of the City of Piedmont
$244,592 to the Housing Authority of the City of Keyser
$238,128 to the Housing Authority of the City of St. Albans
$233,710 to the Housing Authority of the City of Buckhannon
$232,844 to the Housing Authority of Boone County
$206,771 to the Housing Authority of the City of Elkins
$190,858 to the Housing Authority of the City of Romney
$154,426 to the Housing Authority of Raleigh County
$138,668 to the Housing Authority of Mingo County
$132,187 to the Housing Authority of the City of Weston

The HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program Funding Assignment for Homeownership Fees Program, awarded to the Charleston/Kanawha Housing Authority, would also see $200 per household awarded to cover homeownership closing fees for families switching from renting.

Energy Issues And Housing Costs On This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginia has long been an energy state. But where that energy comes from is changing. Natural gas is replacing coal in power plants and renewable energy is gaining ground.

On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginia has long been an energy state. But where that energy comes from is changing. Natural gas is replacing coal in power plants and renewable energy is gaining ground.

Energy & Environment Reporter Curtis Tate talks about the two pieces of legislation with Del. Bill Anderson, R-Wood, Chairman of the House Energy Committee, and Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, Minority Vice Chair of the House Energy Committee.

Also, in this show, America faces a long-term affordable housing crisis – created by a serious overall shortage in housing. In our latest episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay takes us to rural communities and urban developments to see how the situation plays out.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

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