Our Mission:
To promote economic and population growth throughout the County by assisting our local businesses, engaging in community activities, and promoting Stafford County as a great place to live, work and play!

Stafford County Economic Development is accepting bids for the construction of four houses.  
 
Construction drawings were developed in cooperation with KSU College of Architecture, which is in the process of building the protype house using Structural Insulated Panels.    Stafford EcoDevo has secured funding to build four more of the same design.  While we want to keep the floor plan the same, we are open to value engineering the architect’s plan to improve cost efficiency.    In particular, the specifications for the concrete pad, HVAC, the construction method for the walls, and the exterior cladding may be altered.   If you propose changes with the plans, please specify what those changes are.
 
The locations for the build would be SE corner of 1st and Monroe in St. John for 2 houses, 213 S. Broadway in St. John for one house, and 305 N. Main in Hudson for one house.
 
What we are looking for is a complete price for each house (or the sum of the four houses), to include the site work on a vacant lot, construction of the house itself, connection to utilities, and driveway.    
 
Interested contractors should indicate when you are available to being construction, and how long you estimate it would take to complete construction?   Proposals are due to Stafford County Economic Development offices by Friday, October 16, 2020 at 3 pm, either in hard copy at 311 Broadway, St. John, or by email at cdunn@staffordecodevo.com

New Rental Housing Coming Soon!

We are building 10 rental homes that will be available in Summer/Fall 2021. There will be units in Hudson, Macksville, Stafford, and St. John. These new 3 bed 2 bath homes are designed to be all electric and ultra energy efficient. All the units will include kitchen appliances and have hookups for a washer and dryer. Rent will be $500-600/month.

Per the grant funding received to build them, these houses will have income and/or age restrictions. If you want more information or would like to be added to the waiting list please fill out this form.
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Focus on Stafford County
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K-State Students designed a prototype

On a recent Friday, three Kansas State graduate students, fondly dubbed the “A-team” by their professor were working on a house in St. John, a small town of less than 2,000 about an hour and a half northwest of Wichita. They had gotten up at 5:30 that morning to drive two and a half hours from Manhattan, Kansas for their class project.

The assignment?

​To design and build a home that will make as much electricity as it will use, but will be affordable enough for a median-income family to live there. 


Click here to continue reading.
Interns bring collaboration benefits to St. John

​​Waking up before dawn and biking 80 miles in the summer heat may sound extreme to some, but doing so is just a normal day for participants of Bike and Build, an affordable housing nonprofit that bikes cross country annually. In years past, Bike and Build teams have stopped in Stafford County, spending two nights in St. John to work with Stafford County Economic Development (Eco Devo).

Due to COVID-19, the summer of 2020 is the first time in its 17-year history that Bike and Build has not sent riders across the country. Eco Devo and Bike and Build adapted quickly to this change of plans in the spring, and the two organizations collaborated to create a summer internship in St. John...

Click here to learn more.
There are solutions to the rural Kansas housing crisis

A lack of affordable housing is found in almost every corner of the United States, be it in populated metropolitan areas or small, rural towns. Despite a strong focus and success rate of economic development measures, St. John is not exempt from this fight for enough safe, affordable, and stable housing for residents.

​Affordable housing is a keystone piece of maintaining small-town communities. In smaller towns, the effects of unaffordable housing on middle-class residents in addition to lower-income populations is even more apparent.

Click here to learn more about the current housing project that EcoDevo has partnered with KSU's Department of Architecture on.
Downtown Mural Project in St. John

A new mural will be painted on the south facing wall on the northwest corner of 2nd and Main in St. John.  The project is sponsored by the Kansas Creative Arts Industry Commission and The Church of Jesus Christ in St. John...

​Click here for more details.

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