Hebron Feels the Oil Impacts - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Many small towns on the fringes of the Bakken are feeling the oil impact.

Reporter Sarah Gustin takes you to Hebron where the town is feeling the housing crunch due to the many new faces in town.

While the town sits miles from the nearest oil well, the impacts of that rich Bakken business are hitting the streets of Hebron.

(Chester Brandt / City Council Member) "You heard about it, but you didn't really notice it until these people are moving into town and looking for housing." 

Chester Brandt is a City Council Member for the town of Hebron.

Brandt says there are many new faces in town and those new faces are rejuvenating main street.

(Chester Brandt / City Council Member) "Main street is alive and doing well. Simply because the people are supporting it and we have got more people coming in to town. 

But there's not a lot of sleeping places for those new faces.

(Jude Canen / City Auditor) "Affordable housing for families, or even just individuals everything is kinda out of range and not a lot available. 

A 1 bedroom apartment rents for up to 1-thousand dollars, while mobile home rents range between 18 hundred and 23-hundred dollars.

(Chester Brandt / City Council Member) "What's really bad is affordable housing. We even found it up at school with teachers. We had problem getting teachers because they have no place to live. The teachers are there, but where are they going to stay." 

(Kevin Nelson / Hebron Superintendent) "One of the biggest challenges has been staffing. we had three openings and our first opening was very easy to fill, we had 25 applicants. But after that we had our teacher applicants doing some research and finding hey, I can't afford to live in your town or out west."

Hebron Superintendent Kevin Nelson says enrollment is at 189.

An increase of 20 kids in 5 years--a big jump for a small town.

(Kevin Nelson / Hebron Superintendent) "That's huge for the fact, how many desks are you going to have in a classroom first day of school? Because you hear of this family or that family has moved in to town, and they have 5 kids and making sure you have enough supplies and materials for them." 

Nelson says the biggest student increase is in grades kindergarten through 3rd grade.

(Kevin Nelson / Hebron Superintendent) "For many of them, this is maybe there second or third school district in that year, and so to be able to come in an adjust to a whole new system is hard for some, especially for little ones." 

Adding more students to the roster also means adding more money to the budget.

He estimates that's up at least 10%.

Nelson says all their teacher positions are filled.

He says some teachers are driving from Mandan and from Glen Ullin.