THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
VOL. 111, NO. 3
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
@THEMISSOURIAN
DAKOTA WEAVER PHOTO EDITOR
Snider Development plans on building a third phase of their low-income housing that will include two new buildings. These housing options will not be available for Northwest Missouri State students unless they meet certain qualifications.
New low-income housing to break ground in Maryville QUENTIN MORRIS Asst. News Editor | @QuentinCMorris
S
nider Development is planning to build two more low-income housing units. The project is hoping to be funded through a federal tax credit. The plans involve two buildings with 16 units in each. The buildings will have a mix of 12 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom units. They will range between 937 square feet and 1,252 square feet. The development area will also include a dog park and a playground. Snider Development has already built two phases of low-income housing units on Volunteer Ave. This housing will not be available for Northwest
Missouri State University students unless they are married. Representative of Snider Development Pete Ramsel was at the Aug. 22 Maryville City Council meeting where he updated the council on their progress for the new low-income housing. City Council passed a resolution of support back in 2021. Even though Ramsel lives in St. Joseph, he has a close connection to Maryville. He started graduate school in 1969 at Northwest before he was drafted to go to Vietnam. Development has not started because they are waiting to receive a federal tax credit to help ease the cost of construction. In the 1986 Tax Reform Act, Congress created the low-income housing tax credit. This credit allowed
large companies to invest in the development of property as long as that property houses tenants that live under one of three different qualifications. The first of the qualifications that can be met is at least 20% of the project’s units are occupied by tenants with an income of 50% or less of area median income adjusted for family size. The second qualification is that at least 40% of the units are occupied by tenants with an income of 60% or less of average median income. The final qualification that can be met is that at least 40% of the units are occupied by tenants with income averaging no more than 60% of average median income and finally, no units are occupied by tenants with an income greater than 80% of average median income.
Up to $20,000 of relief to come to students SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry
Over the last 50 years, the cost of post-high school education has skyrocketed for students looking to obtain degrees, leaving no choice for many than to take out student loans. To ease the burden of growing costs for highereducation, President Joe Biden announced Aug. 24 a three-part plan to help with student loan borrowers all over the country. The U.S. Department of Education will be providing up to $20,000 in debt erasure for Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for non-Pell grant recipients. This forgiveness applies to people who are making less than $125,000 a year or less than $250,000 for married couples. Pell Grant recipients make up
nearly 60% of the student loan borrower population, and it is estimated by the Department of Education that nearly 27 million Pell Grant borrowers will receive the $20,000 forgiveness. Overall, this plan is estimated to help nearly 43 million student loan borrowers. Students’ parents who have taken out a Parent Plus Loan are also included in the forgiveness plan and are subject to the same income caps. This debt forgiveness is not for high-income individuals or households — those who are in the top five percent of incomes, — according to a press release from The White House. This plan was also made to make the student loan system more manageable by cutting
monthly payments in half for undergraduate loans. The current rate for most existing student loan repayment plans is around 10%, so the Department of Education is proposing a new repayment plan that is based on an individual’s income, capping the monthly payments at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income. This change will lower the average annual student loan payment by more than $1,000 for current and future student loan borrowers. Before this forgiveness plan, one of the first efforts made for students was during the COVID-19 pandemic when student loan repayments were paused with no added interest starting March 2020.
SEE LOANS | A4
The amount allocated to an investor is based on three criteria: the cost of construction, the percentage of qualified lowincome units and the tax credit percentage which is set at 9%. During the Aug. 22 City Council meeting, Snider Development announced private investment in excess of $6.5 million. This means if all of the tenants qualify as lowincome, the third party investor would receive $585,000 in a federal tax credit. Ramsel said receiving the tax credits is a competitive process. Last year they were rejected for the development of this property, but Ramsel said they feel good about their chances.
SEE HOUSING | A4
Invasion of privacy case postponed SIDNEY LOWRY Managing Editor | @sidney_lowry
The scheduled hearing for a case involving a Northwest student has been postponed to Sept. 19 after Circuit Court Judge Corey Herron granted continuance in court Aug. 29. Logan D. Fainter, 19, was charged with Invasion of Privacy, a class E felony, after an investigation and arrest was made by University Police when two reports of a suspect recording people in the female bathroom on the third floor of Millikan Hall. In the first victim’s voluntary, written report of a Jan. 27 incident, she said she saw a phone camera pointed at her under the shower stall while she was nude, according to a probable cause statement
from the University Police Department. A second victim reported a similar incident in a voluntary, written report of an event that occurred Feb. 5. Fainter was originally set for trial March 1, where in arraignment F a i n t e r entered a notguilty plea. During that hearing, he was granted continuance to April 12, and the court ordered him to report directly to Private Probation Services in Macon, Missouri, to undergo a GPS monitoring system. At the April hearing, continuance was requested again and scheduled for May 17. After another court appearance in May, his trial was continued to June 6 and then again to Aug. 15. At the August hearing, the court allowed for removal of the GPS monitor.
SEE FAINTER | A4
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