The City of Sigourney will now have the opportunity to further improve upper level housing in the downtown area. 

On January 18th, the City of Sigourney received a $225,000 Community Development Block Grant with a $79,540 match for a housing project at 103 S. Jefferson Street. Mayor Jimmy Morlan says that the city is currently experiencing a shortage of available housing and that with these additional funds, they hope to improve the look and feel of the city, as well as provide opportunities for new residents to join their community. He explains that with the city providing further employment opportunities, it’s important to provide those new residents with a place to stay in the city,  “Our hospital here in town, they are in the process of updating and expanding the hospital facilities. Which means we’ll have additional medical people coming to town and everyone needs a place to stay. And in a lot of cases, these upper story [apartments] would be a temporary residence for them, for a year or two years until they can find a house.”

Morlan added that construction has already begun for housing improvements on the south side of the square. He says that they are planning to add four new apartments with the funds they received from the Community Development Block Grant program but these plans are subject to change. Moving forward, the city will continue to look for more upper housing improvement grants.