The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation has offered Ketchikan $4.5 million to build affordable housing units. That’s according to the Ketchikan borough mayor, Rodney Dial, who attended the Alaska Municipal League Conference in Anchorage Dec. 7-9. At the conference, Dial and other community representatives from Ketchikan and nearby Saxman met with the housing corporation to discuss their current housing crisis.
According to Dial, the corporation offered the $4.5 million to Ketchikan on the promise that the community build a total of eight affordable housing units by 2025.
“I just feel really proud of how we’ve all worked together to try to bring these funds into Ketchikan because they could have been sent anywhere. And there’s housing needs all over the state, but we were selected as a location for these excess funds. And so, we’re just going to do everything we can to make this a win for the community,” said Dial.
The borough is going to facilitate distribution of the funds. It is not necessarily a borough project though. Dial stressed this is a collaborative effort across the city, brough, and City of Saxman.
“If we put housing anywhere, it’s a benefit to the entire community. So, what it looks like we’re going to do at this point is the borough is going to identify where some land is suitable for this,” Dial explained.
Wherever that land is, it will be outside city limits. The city indicated that they do not currently have any lots suitable for construction of affordable housing units. It is still unclear if Saxman or the borough will lead the charge on this construction to meet 2025 deadlines.
The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is a public corporation with the stated goal of providing Alaskans access to affordable housing. The Ketchikan funds would come from leftover federal pandemic relief money.
The group included Saxman Mayor Frank Seludo, City Manager Delilah Walsh, and Borough Mayor Rodney Dial. KRBD reached out to Seludo and Walsh who were not available for comment.
