The town of New-Wes-Valley is hoping federal funding received last week will help efforts to develop two plots of town land for housing.

Mayor Mike Tiller says the town received a $500,000 grant through the federal government’s Housing Acceleration Plan. The town is currently conducting a housing needs assessment on the land and once that’s complete they’ll issue an RFP for interested developers.

The money, says Tiller, will help with the necessary infrastructure.

He says in smaller, rural communities, it’s the infrastructure needed that is usually the greatest impediment to development. “That $500,000 can be used to say, put a road in, to put in water and sewer, to get the plots ready so that any developer can come in.”