State To Provide $3 Million in Subsidies for Law Enforcement Workers in the Oil Patch -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here to the Dickinson Press.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem announced Wednesday he’s directing $3 million from the state’s share of a lawsuit settlement to subsidize housing for law enforcement in the Oil Patch.

Stenehjem, speaking at the Bakken Housing Conference in Williston, said law enforcement agencies in the oil and gas producing counties are getting qualified applicants, but they can’t afford the housing costs in those communities.

“Are we having issues with housing? Absolutely,” Dickinson Police Department Capt. David Wilkie said. “The entire city is having issues with housing. Not just the public sector, but the private sector too. You bring anybody into the city right now and there’s no place to live.”

Inflated housing prices have some landlords charging $2,000 a month for an apartment, he said, adding a new officer is commuting three hours round trip daily from a relative’s house until he can find a place to live.

I give the Dickinson Press more grief than they deserve, probably, for their editorial stance on the oil industry. I have to admit, when I want to find information about local issues in the Bakken, it seems the Dickinson Press always comes through. The Bismarck Tribune does well. The Williston Herald, for some reason, has less on a daily basis. The supplements published periodically by the Bismarck Tribune and the Williston Herald are outstanding.