CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Mo. —One of the fastest-growing counties in the Ozarks is facing a need for more housing to keep up with its own growth.

Christian County has become a desirable place to live and a massive new apartment complex is set to be built there soon.

Bryan Properties is building a 240-unit Ozark apartment complex in an area they say hasn’t seen a development like this in quite some time.

Christian County has grown by more than 15% in the last decade, rising to a population of about 91,000, according to showmeccmo.com.

 “Show-me Christian County” is an economic development organization and its CEO and president, Kristen Haseltine, tells me the hope is by adding more housing units to the area, they will also address a workforce shortage.

“Having affordable housing, accessible housing and housing diversity, all of those are big components to our growth to recruiting and retaining businesses that are already here,” said Haseltine.

In just 10 years, Christian County has seen over 14,000 people move to the area.

Haseltine says with many colleges in the area finding places for graduating students and young families to live is challenging but says these apartments will play a huge role for people who work in the area.

She says this is just the first step in increasing the workforce.

“Our population in the metro area is over 400,000 people so we do have a robust amount of people who are here but being able to keep them here and finding those housing opportunities is key as well,” says Haseltine.

Bryan Properties developers tell me by investing in the community, they hope people who chose to live in the area will not only have accessible housing but also support the local businesses who are here as well.