Kentucky Highlands' Stardust Industries conversion from houseboat to land house production featured on USDA site
| From the USDA site: | |
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Stardust Industries is helping retool and redirect Monticello, Kentucky’s houseboat manufacturing industry – which has been decimated because of the struggling economy – by using its facilities and manpower to create low-cost housing that is energy efficient. Rural Development obligated $499,000 in Rural Business Enterprise Grant funds to support this unique endeavor. Up until a few years ago, there were several successful houseboat manufacturers in the four-county area surrounding the city of Somerset. Most have now ceased operation or drastically reduced output, which has led to dramatic, long-term job loss. These new energy efficient homes will be constructed in redesigned, refitted houseboat factories using local workers that have been retrained. |
| USDA Photo by Lance Cheung |
See the USDA write up and Flickr collection here, and a February 14, 2011, article in the Lexington Herald-Leader: Hard-hit houseboat industry looks to a future on land
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