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Creating Sustainable Places: Housing

The broad availability of a variety of housing choices — different types, different price points and for different ages — is an important part of creating sustainable places. Housing variety throughout the region is important because:

• It ensures a more equitable region.
• It allows all residents the opportunity of living near where they work — freeing up time for family and reducing pollution by shortening commutes.
• It allows residents of different generations to live in the same community.
• It allows residents to age in place even though their housing needs change.
• Communities with different ages and different incomes makes for more vibrant places.

Creating Sustainable Places is fostering research and discussion about how the region can diversify its housing stock, meet the housing needs of changing demographics, and develop more affordable housing in more places. This project began with the development of a housing market analysis by Kansas University Professor Kirk McClure.

MARC is also working with housing agencies in the region to enhance our capacity to develop affordable housing. Specific capacities include:

• Understanding and public will — The most essential capacity that a region must have to successfully address affordable housing issues is an understanding of the nature of affordable housing, the market for affordable housing, and why such housing is important to economic competitiveness. Once this understanding is gained, there must be public will to take the actions necessary to address the issue. This is an ongoing process.
• Ability to develop a regional affordable housing strategy — In order to effectively finance, develop and operate affordable housing sufficient to meet the region’s needs and market demand, it is necessary to develop a common strategy for the development of this housing. A common strategy will facilitate leveraging resources and ensure maximum impact from resources.
• Ability to monitor and assess the regional housing market — A successful affordable housing strategy must be in tune with the affordable housing market and its relationship to the larger housing market. The capacity to develop affordable housing is most successful when it meets an identified need in the market.
• Private capital resources and their assembly — Successful regions have developed ways to assemble substantial private capital resources in support of affordable housing development.
• Public capital resources and their assembly — Public capital — local, state and federal — is a critical component in the production of affordable housing sufficient to meet regional demand. Public capital is also essential in leveraging private capital into the process.
• Coordination of capital — As important as private and public capital are to the production of affordable housing, the key to a successful housing development strategy is the coordination of these capital resources. Affordable housing projects often require multiple financing sources and it is essential that the available resources work in concert to make sure they are producing maximum impact and are contributing to the goals of the regional affordable housing strategy.
• Funds to subsidize quality — Long-term success requires that quality be built into affordable housing projects. Quality can generate a respect for the property on the part of its inhabitants, build long-term operating efficiencies into properties, help integrate affordable housing into surrounding communities, and build public acceptance for affordable housing in the region.
• Production capacity — The region must have the capacity to develop a significant number of affordable units that meet market demand at a sufficient scale to realize cost savings and impact the market. Production capacity is necessary to take advantage of large-scale public or private opportunities and use these opportunities in a strategic manner to meet regional affordable housing goals.
• Operating capacity — A large proportion of affordable housing will be rental property. Long-term success for these properties and community acceptance requires a consistently high level of management.
• Coordination with community development strategies — The regional affordable housing strategy and its execution require a high degree of coordination among public (local, state, federal) and private community development agencies and resources.

More Resources:

Creating Housing Choices presentation, August 2011

Housing Affordability in the Greater Kansas City Area