The offices of the South Dakota Housing Development Authority in Pierre on June 15, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE — A governor-appointed board unanimously approved higher prices and a higher income limit Monday for an affordable housing program.
The South Dakota Governor’s House program sells two- and three-bedroom homes built by inmates at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield that are shipped across the state to eligible buyers.
The program also offers daycare models, which can be owned by daycare providers or nonprofit organizations. For buyers in rural areas with less than 5,000 people, the authority provides DakotaPlex units intended to be used as duplexes, triplexes or quadriplexes.
Buyers are responsible for buying a building permit, finding a lot, laying the foundation and flooring, and hooking up utilities and appliances.
This year’s change is the “smallest price increase we’ve had in many, many years,” according to Mike Harsma, who heads the Governor’s House program for South Dakota Housing.
On July 1, the start of the new fiscal year, the homes will be priced as follows:
- Two bedroom: $89,000, up from $86,000, or a 3.49% increase.
- Three bedroom: $99,000, up from $96,000, or a 3.13% increase.
- Dakotaplex two bedroom: $99,000, up from $97,000, or a 2.06% increase.
- Dakotaplex three bedroom: $109,000, up from $106,000, or a 2.83% increase.
- Daycare: $99,000, up from $96,000, or a 3.13% increase.
Last year, units increased at least 6%. The rise in prices this year is due mostly to increased fuel costs, according to Chas Olson, executive director of the South Dakota Housing Development Authority. The cost of delivery for a home is included in the total price of a Governor’s House.
“Whether we’re moving a Governor’s House from Springfield to Sioux Falls or we’re moving it across the state to Buffalo, South Dakota, we get the same amount for that moving fee,” Olson said. “The cost of fuel, where it is now and kind of the uncertainty around that, we had to build in a little bit of a cushion just to be sure that we weren’t taking too big a loss on the fuel.”
Increased income limit
Buyers of Governor’s Houses must meet income requirements. The board approved a higher income limit, now at 100% of the state’s median income, regardless of household size.
Families that make up to $103,400 now qualify for the program. In previous years, buyers in one- to two-person households could qualify if they made $72,380 or less and households of three or more people could qualify if they made $82,720 or less.
“It’s hard to get people qualified at those income levels,” Olson said. It had been about 14 years since that limit was adjusted, he said, “and with the cost of everything now, I mean, it was just time.”
Mortgage assistance program
Board members also approved a program that’s modeled after a piece of legislation that failed earlier this year in the Legislature. It’s a mortgage assistance program for qualifying buyers of manufactured homes.
The authority also provides down payment assistance for traditional homes. Down payments for manufactured homes are often higher than a typical mortgage down payment, according to Amy Eldridge, of the authority.
A manufactured home is a mobile home that’s built on a permanent framework. The homes must have all required utilities, including plumbing and climate control.
Eligible buyers can apply for a low-interest loan of up to 50% of their mortgage down payment from the assistance program, with total assistance not exceeding $10,000. The income limit for the program is $124,080.
Olson hopes to see the program available to interested buyers within the next month.
“We just need more homes at lower price points,” he said, “and we need ways to get that done.”
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