Halstad Housing Survey

Rural Minnesota is enjoying a relatively new phenomena, the “Brain Gain”, a trend of population increases in ages 30-49 into rural areas across Minnesota. This trend, highlighted in the 2012 report by Benjamin Winchester, Continuing the Trend: The Brain Gain of the Newcomers A GENERATIONAL ANALYSIS OF RURAL MINNESOTA MIGRATION, 1990-2010, is bringing a resurgence to rural Minnesota as many of these newcomers are highly educated with families, which ultimately impacts the community in a positive way.  The report states “The leaders found that the top reasons cited for migration to rural Minnesota include: 1) a desire for a simpler life, 2) safety and security, 3) affordable housing, 4) outdoor recreation, and 5) for those with children, locating a quality school. Surprisingly, jobs were not found in the top 10 reasons. In short, the decision to move was based on concerns about quality of life.” This report lends credibility to the position taken by NMF in 2003—that talent has become the main driver of regional economic development and that Quality of Place is the essential ingredient in attracting and retaining a talented workforce. This “Brain Gain” provides northwest Minnesota with an opportunity to boost a trend already moving in a positive direction.

Community members have identified housing as a critical issue. In order to create new housing stock, and maintain existing housing stock, community members are working to understand Halstad’s housing needs. To help gather information community members have created the following housing survey. The primary reason to collect this information is to help when applying for future grant funds. Community members have observed how other NW MN communities have been successful applying for state grant funding to preserve existing housing stock through the Small Cities Block Grant Program and other programs offered through Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. In order to apply for these funds the City will need to collect basic information about current housing conditions and needs.

Information will be collected anonymously.