Neodesha, Kansas offers incentives to entice people to move there

With a inhabitants of about 2,100, Neodesha, Kansas, is roughly 100 miles from Wichita and Topeka in Kansas and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its declare to fame is the 65-foot-tall tower that supported the drilling framework for the primary industrial oil properly west of the Mississippi River, locals say. 

However as an outdated oil town, Neodesha has struggled with a reducing inhabitants and an getting old housing supply for years.

When the refinery previously owned by Normal Oil Co. closed in 1971, “the inhabitants was lower in half over evening,” based on Neodesha’s mayor, Devin Johnson.

“We now have seen that decline as each small neighborhood has during the last 50 years,” Johnson mentioned. “The factor with small communities is, if you’re not rising, you might be dying.”

Final 12 months, Neodesha partnered with MakeMyMove, a web based relocation market that connects employees with communities attempting to draw new residents.

The town is now offering qualifying new residents incentives — resembling waiving state earnings tax by means of 2026 together with property tax rebates and assist with day take care of working dad and mom — in addition to entry to current perks, together with student loan repayment assistance as much as $15,000 and free faculty tuition by means of the Neodesha Promise scholarship program.

MakeMyMove, which has labored with 88 communities throughout the U.S., screens candidates and connects them with native sources.

For the reason that program launched in 2024, greater than 30 persons are within the means of transferring to Neodesha, based on Evan Hock, MakeMyMove’s co-founder and chief working officer.

“We have awarded over $1 million in scholarships, and I really feel like we’re serving to the neighborhood and making some actual progress,” mentioned Ben Cutler, who grew up in Neodesha and now funds the scholarship program, which began in 2020 and is on the market to any graduate of Neodesha Excessive Faculty in good standing. (Neodesha’s promise program will cowl tuition at taking part faculties or affiliate diploma applications and vocational colleges nationwide.) 

“Certainly one of my key focuses was serving to construct the neighborhood, to assist in any means I might to make Neodesha a extra enticing neighborhood for younger households, and I feel we’re making some actual progress in that regard — I actually hope so anyway,” Cutler mentioned.

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In the meantime, efforts are additionally underway to assemble a whole lot of recent properties, residences and duplexes within the area, together with the event of retail and industrial areas and the renovation of a number of historic buildings on Major Road.

“We have got to cherish what we have got however be sure we make Neodesha a pretty place for individuals to come back,” Johnson mentioned.

Other communities across the country have additionally been upping the ante with money incentives or voucher applications for individuals keen to maneuver.

For instance, employees relocating to Topeka can obtain as much as $10,000 for lease for the primary 12 months or as much as $15,000 to place towards shopping for a house.

One other program affiliated with the West Virginia Division of Tourism is providing a money incentive of $12,000 together with entry to free coworking areas and outside recreation packages for individuals who transfer to the state for at the least two years.  

The Shoals Economic Development Authority affords $10,000 in money to full-time distant staff who’re keen to relocate to the Shoals neighborhood in northwest Alabama.

“This can be a cost-effective means of doing financial improvement,” mentioned MakeMyMove’s Hock. The communities “often get a return inside the first 12 months.”

Nevertheless, “incentives usually are not the explanation individuals truly transfer,” he mentioned. Affordability is vital, he mentioned, however neighborhood additionally performs an vital position.

“They’re on the lookout for high quality of place, they need a neighborhood connection, that is what is motivating the transfer,” Hock mentioned.

Incentive applications in Neodesha and different areas are gaining steam as residents from main cities throughout the nation more and more migrate to Southern and Midwestern spots the place housing prices are much less extreme, and the place development is maintaining with the demand, reports show.

United Van Lines’ annual 2024 study discovered a rising shift away from the cities and suburbs of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago towards extra “livable” places with decrease day-to-day dwelling bills.

Kaitlyn Sundberg by no means anticipated that she would move to Kansas. Sundberg and her husband, Jack, lived in Southern California however struggled to save lots of sufficient for the down payment on a house of their very own.

“We have been dwelling with my in-laws, and we weren’t in a position to afford something,” mentioned Sundberg, 27.

Sundberg’s husband, who labored as an estimator for a telecom firm, expanded his job search — considerably — and located a possibility as this system supervisor for Southeast Kansas Inc.

After they visited Neodesha, “it simply appeared like a family-friendly place to reside,” Sundberg mentioned.

“We spent a Saturday on the lookout for a home — there have been children driving bikes,” she mentioned, “I simply cried.”

The couple moved to Neodesha with their two canine 18 months in the past, even earlier than the inducement program launched. Sundberg now works because the govt director of the brand new early studying middle on the town after a neighbor introduced over the job posting and urged she apply for the place.

“Being away from household is the toughest half,” she mentioned, “however I might by no means wish to transfer again.”

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