PUKWANA, S.D.(KCCR)- Halfway between Chamberlain and Kimball and a little north of I-90 sits Pukwana.  The Brule County community has a population as of the 2020 Census of only 233, but the Lake Francis Case Development Corporation is hoping free lots for homes will expand on that population.

Development Corporation Executive Director Mike Lauritsen says state law allows for giving away eligible properties.

Lauritsen says three large employers in the Chamberlain area have at least 40 vacant jobs paying from 30 to 120-thousand dollars a year that can’t be filled because of a shortage of housing.

The City of Chamberlain has a new development, Smokey Grove.  Lauritsen says three houses have been built with the free lots and two are under construction; doubled housing stock in Chamberlain in the last year.