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WINONA LAKE - The need for housing within Kosciusko County to support local employers and their employees was emphasized during the second Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) Champion Breakfast.
The breakfast was held Wednesday at the Mission Point Event Center in Winona Lake.
Featured speakers during the breakfast included Grace College President Dr. Drew Flamm, Winona IT Founder Michael Pahl, Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital CEO Chad Towner, Frank Levinson with Team FaB and Dawn Wilkinson, KEDCO's director of projects and operations.
Wilkinson asked Levinson and Towner about housing needs, the role residential proximity plays in businesses and site viability.
Towner noted LKH recently hired a new OB/GYN who grew up in the area and moved back to Kosciusko County but is experiencing difficulty finding a house.
"I've got people that are making $17 an hour, and I've got people that are making $800,000 a year," said Towner. "It's a pretty broad spectrum for us. One of the key things is that we need them close to the hospital. We have to think about proximity."
"I think the biggest thing is choice," said Levinson about housing. "Detached single-family homes, multi-family townhomes that people can buy, as well as rent and apartments as well. Choice and mobility are limited when it comes to housing. Having more of that is really key. There's a lot of people who live outside of the county, in Fort Wayne, in South Bend ... that's a big signal that we need to have more investment here."
Wilkinson noted she and Jessica Hauck, KEDCO's talent and housing manager, are working with Club 720 to develop housing sites in Claypool, Pierceton, Syracuse and Mentone.
"In the county, we have tremendous support at the government level for zoning, getting things done," said Levinson. "Five, 10, 15 years ago, it was so much cheaper to build. But now, material costs have gone up with inflation and also a big hit when it comes to construction is labor. And that's where some of the grants, low-interest loans can help make these projects viable."
Wilkinson said KEDCO staff were excited about ongoing relationships with county and state partners, and local businesses and communities.
"If we can make it easier, we want to make it easier so that we can develop these properties," said Wilkinson.
In their conversation before attendees, Flamm and Pahl discussed Grace College and Winona IT's ongoing partnership. The two entities have collaborated over the last four years.
"We still have a full-time staff at Grace who work in the office of information and technology, but it's expanded, almost more than quadrupled the number of people that are available to us and the time and space they're available," said Flamm. "With Winona IT, someone's available at 7:30 in the morning, somebody's available at 8 at night. To do something when we need it on a campus that never stops ... that's been huge for us."
For upcoming events, KEDCO will hold an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25 at its new location at 2194 North Pointe Drive, Warsaw.
