The South Dakota Housing Development Authority won $5.4 million in federal funding this week to put affordable housing projects into operation statewide.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development assistance will bring housing projects off a waiting list for government tax credits and see finished housing with affordable rent in a year, said Mark Lauseng, state housing authority executive director.

Some projects built with HUD's Tax Credit Assistance Program will be rent-to-own single family homes, Lauseng said. However, the majority will be multi-family apartment complexes.

The authority applied for Recovery Act economic stimulus money early this spring.

"We had our normal tax-credit round, which we held a few weeks ago, and what happened was there were more projects than we could fund, so we put them on a waiting list," Lauseng said. "We hope to fund those with TCAP funds."

Projects funded by the HUD grant must be completed by Feb. 16, 2012.

Although Lauseng doesn't think the Midwest is seeking as much assistance with necessity housing as other areas of the United States, he said he has seen housing costs outpacing family incomes in South Dakota.

Tax credits are an incentive for investors to provide affordable housing, as it lowers construction debts and can allow for more affordable rent. In current economic conditions, the value of tax credits have dropped and left as many as 1,000 projects uncompleted nationwide, according to a release by HUD. The Recovery Act has allocated more than $2.25 billion in housing assistance nationwide since February.