The Iowa City Council heard from Eric Fulmer, of the consulting firm who has been responsible for the report for The City of Iowa City, in collaboration with the cities of Coralville, North Liberty, Tiffin and University Heights (collectively referred to as the Iowa City metro area) to examine existing and future need for housing among lower income households.
The purposes of the Affordable Housing Market Analysis:
• Identify demographic and economic trends that affect the demand for housing
• Define the supply and demand characteristics of the housing market as a whole
• Analyze the demand for affordable housing
• Determine if there are any barriers to affordable housing
• Recommend actions and initiatives aimed at expanding the supply of affordable housing
For this study, lower income households are defined as those with an annual income at or below 80% of the area median household income. Affordable housing for renters is defined as paying no more than 30% of gross household income for housing expenses including rent and utilities, regardless of income level. Affordable housing for home owners is defined as paying no more than 50% of gross household income for housing expenses including mortgage, utilities, insurance and taxes, regardless of income level.
Here is a link to the report.
Among the highlights:
Households grew faster than the general population: During the 1990s, population in the Iowa City metro area increased at a rate of 13.6% while households grew by 22.8%.
New residents continue to move to the area: In 2000, more than 35,000 persons had migrated to Johnson County from their previous residence in 1995, while only 11,000 persons had migrated out.
Housing prices have outpaced incomes: Real median household income in Iowa City decreased 4.5% from $42,694 in 2000 to $40,772 in 2007. Median sales price of housing increased 8.2% from $134,000 in 2001 to $165,000 in 2006, after adjusting for inflation.
Many cost burdened households are active members of the region’s workforce whose salaries are not keeping pace with housing costs: Approximately 12.8% of workers are employed in industries with entry level wages of less than $15,000 annually. Another 40% work in industries with entry level wages between $15,000 and $20,000 annually.
Household growth is expected to add more than 2,600 households by 2012 with most growth occurring at higher income levels: Another 2,618 new households are projected between 2007 and 2012, with most projected to be in the $100,000 and higher income range.
Continued household growth and higher median household income fuel the demand for new housing. However, the Iowa City metro area is producing many more higher-priced housing units than moderately priced units: Between 2005 and 2006, the number of single family housing units that sold for less than $100,000 in the Iowa City area decreased from 186 units to 155 units. Meanwhile, the number of single family housing units that sold for more than $200,000 increased from 751 units to 764 units.
Other highlights:
- Existing demand for affordable housing exceeds projected demand.
- Projected housing construction activity is not expected to address affordable housing need.
- Experienced affordable housing developers in the region are struggling against many barriers to create new affordable housing units for lower income households:
- Developable land zoned for multi-family housing and available for purchase in Iowa City
- State and Federal funding for financing affordable housing
- The high cost of land and construction
- In high growth areas such as the Iowa City area, market rate developments offer higher profit margins to builders and developers
- Capacity of Non-profit developers to be self-supporting
- The ability for consumers to successfully make the transition from renting to home ownership can be daunting.
The study offers nine recommendations to allow more affordable housing to be built: the most controversial will likely be the call for mandatory inclusionary zoning. However the recommendation calls for incentives to offset the costs of building affordable housing.
Bottomline:
The Iowa City metro area will be short almost 4,000 affordable housing units by 2012 unless action is taken.
Showing posts with label Housing Shortage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Housing Shortage. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24
Thursday, December 20
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
The scene outside New Orleans' City Hall boiled on the brink of a riot Thursday as protestors stormed the gate and were met with police spraying mace and firing Tasers. Protestors broke through the gates outside City Hall shortly after 11 a.m.
From the AP
A raucous debate over the shortage of cheap housing and the demolition of 4,500 public units is sweeping the city and likely to become more intense.
Protesters planned to disrupt a meeting Thursday of the City Council, where members were expected to approve demolishing dozens of buildings — a move that would open racial and class divisions. People entering the council chamber had to pass through metal detectors and handbags were being searched.
The City Council vote is a critical moment in a protracted fight between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and residents, activists and preservationists.
HUD wants to demolish the buildings, most of them damaged by Hurricane Katrina, so developers can take advantage of tax credits and build new mixed-income neighborhoods.
The council's approval of the demolition is required under the city's charter.
HUD says the redevelopment, in the works before Katrina hit, will mark an end to the city's failed public housing experiment that lumped the poor into crime-ridden complexes and marooned them outside the life of the rest of the city.
But critics say the plan will shrink the stock of cheap housing at a time when housing is scarce and drive poor blacks out of the city. They also say the buildings are, contrary to popular opinion, mostly handsome brick structures that will outlast anything HUD builds in their place.
By Wednesday, opponents of demolition appeared resigned to a council vote that would go against their wishes, and were accusing council members of discriminating against blacks.
A news release from the Coalition to Stop the Demolition, one of several groups organizing protesters, characterized the pending action as a "rubber stamp" at a "sham meeting."
"It is beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination. It is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the black population of New Orleans," said Kali Akuno, an organizer with the group.
A recent shake-up on the seven-member City Council turned it into a majority white chamber for the first time since the 1980s, a shift that will certainly make the vote even more racially charged.
Three of the council's white members were quick to say they supported the tear-down plan, while the council's three black members were hesitant about expressing their intentions.
One black member, Cynthia Hedge Morrell, issued a statement late Wednesday in favor of demolitions. The fourth white member, Council President Arnie Fielkow, has been careful to tread the middle ground, but a spokeswoman said Thursday he supports demolition.
"It's not racist and it's truly not a done deal behind the scenes," said Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, a newly elected councilmember-at-large, about the council's pending vote.
Besides opening fissures between whites and blacks, the clash has divided along political party lines.
Many Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John Edwards, have said they would like the Bush administration to stop the demolitions. Louisiana's Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, has also supported overhauling the redevelopment plan.
By contrast, Republicans have come out in favor of demolition. On Wednesday, Sen. David Vitter and three Republican congressman wrote a letter to a Senate committee considering the redevelopment plan, saying it needs to be left alone because overhauling it would delay and even derail redevelopment.
"Public housing in New Orleans has for many decades served almost no other purpose than to warehouse the city's poor and disenfranchised," the letter said. "That generations of our fellow citizens were allowed to live in government-operated and sanctioned slums is offensive and intolerable."
On the Net:
http://www.nocitycouncil.com
http://www.defendneworleanspublichousing.org
From the AP
A raucous debate over the shortage of cheap housing and the demolition of 4,500 public units is sweeping the city and likely to become more intense.
Protesters planned to disrupt a meeting Thursday of the City Council, where members were expected to approve demolishing dozens of buildings — a move that would open racial and class divisions. People entering the council chamber had to pass through metal detectors and handbags were being searched.
The City Council vote is a critical moment in a protracted fight between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and residents, activists and preservationists.
HUD wants to demolish the buildings, most of them damaged by Hurricane Katrina, so developers can take advantage of tax credits and build new mixed-income neighborhoods.
The council's approval of the demolition is required under the city's charter.
HUD says the redevelopment, in the works before Katrina hit, will mark an end to the city's failed public housing experiment that lumped the poor into crime-ridden complexes and marooned them outside the life of the rest of the city.
But critics say the plan will shrink the stock of cheap housing at a time when housing is scarce and drive poor blacks out of the city. They also say the buildings are, contrary to popular opinion, mostly handsome brick structures that will outlast anything HUD builds in their place.
By Wednesday, opponents of demolition appeared resigned to a council vote that would go against their wishes, and were accusing council members of discriminating against blacks.
A news release from the Coalition to Stop the Demolition, one of several groups organizing protesters, characterized the pending action as a "rubber stamp" at a "sham meeting."
"It is beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination. It is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the black population of New Orleans," said Kali Akuno, an organizer with the group.
A recent shake-up on the seven-member City Council turned it into a majority white chamber for the first time since the 1980s, a shift that will certainly make the vote even more racially charged.
Three of the council's white members were quick to say they supported the tear-down plan, while the council's three black members were hesitant about expressing their intentions.
One black member, Cynthia Hedge Morrell, issued a statement late Wednesday in favor of demolitions. The fourth white member, Council President Arnie Fielkow, has been careful to tread the middle ground, but a spokeswoman said Thursday he supports demolition.
"It's not racist and it's truly not a done deal behind the scenes," said Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, a newly elected councilmember-at-large, about the council's pending vote.
Besides opening fissures between whites and blacks, the clash has divided along political party lines.
Many Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John Edwards, have said they would like the Bush administration to stop the demolitions. Louisiana's Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, has also supported overhauling the redevelopment plan.
By contrast, Republicans have come out in favor of demolition. On Wednesday, Sen. David Vitter and three Republican congressman wrote a letter to a Senate committee considering the redevelopment plan, saying it needs to be left alone because overhauling it would delay and even derail redevelopment.
"Public housing in New Orleans has for many decades served almost no other purpose than to warehouse the city's poor and disenfranchised," the letter said. "That generations of our fellow citizens were allowed to live in government-operated and sanctioned slums is offensive and intolerable."
On the Net:
http://www.nocitycouncil.com
http://www.defendneworleanspublichousing.org
Friday, July 13
Poor Choices For Public Housing
Not a big surprise to those of us in Iowa City who have been beating the drum for more affordable housing, but it is important to recognize that affordable public housing is lagging nationally and people in need have few options.From McClatchy Newspapers
Growing numbers of the nation's poorest households are using more than half their earnings for rent while waiting years for federal housing assistance that may never come.The phenomenon is largely playing out in urban and suburban locales, but has exploded recently in rural areas as coveted rental assistance becomes harder to get due to high demand and scant funding from Congress.
The lack of affordable homes for poor families is the nation's No. 1 housing problem and undermines the stability and security of families and communities nationwide.
A new report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development describes the startling growth of the problem since 2003. It found that 6 million impoverished households used most of their monthly earnings for housing or lived in substandard conditions in 2005. That’s an increase of 16 percent, or 817,000 families, since 2003.
The number of rural families facing this dilemma grew by 51 percent to nearly 1 million households over the same two-year span.
At the same time, these struggling households saw their average monthly incomes decline while their average rent payments increased.
Despite the considerable squeeze and growing need for help, these 6 million families received no federal rent assistance from HUD. In fact, federal housing assistance reaches only about one in four income-eligible households.
There’s simply not enough to go around, in part because for many years the Bush administration and a compliant Congress have diverted money from housing and other domestic programs to pay for tax cuts and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There definitely has been a diminution of federal support for low-income housing in recent years,” said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "Clearly, it says there are other priorities, and this is not on the short list."
The lack of assistance, soaring rents, slow wage growth and a shrinking inventory of affordable apartments have made it nearly impossible for millions of low-income renters to adequately house their families.
“If you’re not one of the lucky 25 percent to receive assistance, you're very likely to have a very high rent burden or live in substandard conditions or in overcrowded conditions," said Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities. ”The demand for assistance goes significantly unmet.”
In fact, a family with only one full-time minimum-wage earner can’t afford a standard two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country, the Harvard study found.
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