Johnson County and Affordable Housing

In 1992, I attended my first Iowa City area affordable housing forum when I was working at the Congressional Office. My spouse, Robin Butler, has worked at the Iowa City Housing Authority for almost 18 years. It is safe to say, we have attended hundreds of housing events and forums. Robin is actually a walking data computer on local housing facts such as fair market rent on a 1 bedroom ($694) or how many people are on the Section 8 waiting list (over 19,000). They are just now pulling people that live in the area that applied in December of 2015.

I am passionate about the need for affordable and safe housing for everyone in Johnson County.  The County has helped fund the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County since it started, but funding had always been stable. Two years ago during budget discussions, I advocated for the County to put serious money into affordable housing in order to make a measurable difference. Rev. Bob Welsh was there during the Board of Supervisors discussions and argued we should go higher. He was right and we did it with unanimous and enthusiastic support.

The first two years that extra funding was $600,000 per year. This year I suggested an inflation increase so in FY 19 it will be $630,000. Simultaneously, Iowa City has redirected and budgeted funds and is moving on many fronts to encourage and require mixes of housing that include affordable and workforce housing.

There are many projects developing and agencies like the Housing Trust, Housing Fellowship, Shelter House, Habitat for Humanity are taking on a lot of exciting projects. All this is much needed and long overdue in a County that is growing, where land prices are high and the cost of living is the highest in Iowa. I believe we need to raise the minimum wage, fight for living wages, combat hunger and create safe, accessible and affordable housing.

This afternoon, Robin and I attended the League of Women Voters Sunday Speaker Series featuring affordable housing. The speakers were Tracy Hightshoe, Crissy Canganelli and Casey Cook. They were filled with a lot of good news about projects, data and plans.

Here are some random factoids:

- Land prices are as high as $50 per square feet.

- Our area has had rental vacancy rates as low as below 1% and it is currently about 4.4%. A healthy balance is between 5-6%.

- In 2017 we added 1,567 new rental beds (1,049 were at the new UI dorm)

- In 2018 we are expected to add 2,288 net new beds.

- In 2019 we are expected to add 709 net new beds.

- All of that could mean vacancy rates of 8-9%.

- When vacancy rates are at or above 8% it creates a renters market and concessions can occur that could lower rental costs 10-15%.

We also learned a lot about Iowa City's plans and the very exciting Shelter House project breaking ground next month.

Thanks to the League of Women Voters for an informative afternoon. I have been a LWV member for a few decades. Membership is open to everyone, regardless of gender. www.lwvjc.org