New Regulations For Bakken Housing

Temporary Housing in Bakken
Temporary Housing in Bakken

Williams County commissioners adopted new regulations that will significantly limit the availability of temporary housing that serves in North Dakota’s oil fields.

Related: Will Bakken Man Camps Disappear?

Temporary housing has peppered the landscape since 2008, providing a crucial way to house the droves of workers who have migrated to the Bakken oil fields. When the influx of workers outstripped available housing, new crew camps, RV/trailer parks and modular homes quickly sprang up to meet the need.

Last week the commission voted to adopt the new guidelines that put restrictions on new or renewed applications for temporary housing. Commissioners stopped short of a full ban fearing that might increase apartment and permanent housing costs.

Mike Sizemore, director of Development Services said “This was an effort to try and put something together to work. It’s hard to come up with a policy that was cut and dry because none of these are the same.

Recently, the SEC has frozen the assets of North Dakota Developments, LLC (“NDD”) and its principles, claiming they defrauded over 980 investors from 66 different countries to build Bakken housing projects that were never finished.

Bakken Man Camps Center of Ponzi-Type Scheme