It doesn’t have to be this way.

Lawrence housing is too expensive for blue collar workers and other average wage earners, an Omaha, Neb.-based consultant told city leaders Wednesday after an intensive weeklong study of the city’s housing situation.

Lisa Ramler, a Realtor and president of the Lawrence Board of Realtors, thinks the city has an affordable housing problem and would like to see more houses like this one at 2516 Cimarron Drive, which is under contract for 49,000. City commissioners heard a report Wednesday giving several suggestions on new programs to make housing more affordable in Lawrence.

“This might be a market that is a little too rich for the people who live in it,” said Martin Shukert, a consultant with Aquila’s Community Housing Assessment Team.

But here’s the important part, Shukert said: The lack of affordable housing need not remain a fact of life here.

The city, which has been ranked by national surveys as the most expensive housing market in Kansas, doesn’t have to be a place where people searching for a reasonable home priced $130,000 need lottery-like luck to be successful.

Community leaders can take steps to make more homes more affordable to more people. But Shukert said the effort would require new programs, and in some cases, a new mindset.

Affordable housing has been a frequent issue among politicians and economic development leaders in Lawrence for more than a decade, and was a prominent issue during the last City Commission election, when candidates said they feared the issue threatened the future diversity of Lawrence’s population.

Shukert’s recommendations are the most comprehensive yet produced for addressing the problem.

“It has always been an issue in this town and probably always will be to some degree, but it seems like there should be something we can do to address it,” said Lisa Ramler, president of the Lawrence Board of Realtors.

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Among the ideas Shukert suggested the city study:

• An audit to determine whether the city’s regulations and development process unnecessarily increase housing costs.
• Special financing options for affordable subdivisions.
• Creation of a “one-stop” shop for building and development permits.


An example of what kind of homes are currently listed in Lawrence. This house, 1920 Tenn., is listed at 17,000.

• Targeted reduction of fees to encourage more affordable housing developments.
• And support for more bricks-and-mortar projects for existing organizations like Tenants to Homeowners and the city’s Neighborhood Resources Department.

The ideas left several members of the crowd of about 25 people who heard Shukert’s presentation at City Hall on Wednesday optimistic.

“I thought it was really encouraging to hear we have some options,” said Lavern Squier, president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Shukert said the city should have an independent party examine the city’s development process and list the positives and negatives of each regulation.

Shukert said a survey he conducted found that the city’s standards oftentimes were contentious with builders and developers, but Shukert said the standards had been effective in creating an attractive community.

Mayor Boog Highberger said he was willing to consider the regulatory audit, but he said figuring out a way to make regulations less burdensome while still protecting the community would be a delicate balancing act.

“We can’t simply just lower our standards,” Highberger said.

Shukert, who previously was the planning director for the city of Omaha, said that city improved its development process and home affordability by creating a single point of contact in city government for developers. He said a survey of Lawrence builders showed the idea was popular among them.

An example of what kind of homes are currently listed in Lawrence. This house, 2505 Via Linda, is listed at 74,900.

“It sounds like the process for reviewing a project is a frustrating experience for most builders and developers,” Shukert said.

Area lenders should look into creating a special interim financing pool for builders to tap into if they are building affordable homes, which Shukert said generally would need to be under $130,000 for the Lawrence market.

The financing pool would give builders more flexibility and might encourage them to build larger affordable housing projects.

Shukert said the city should also look at using tax increment financing districts to partially fund affordable housing projects. A TIF would allow new tax dollars generated by the project to pay for public improvements in the development, such as roads and sidewalks.

Another possibility: The city could waive its building permit fees for homes which developers pledge to sell for an affordable price. City commissioners also could agree to waive impact fees, which are charges for hooking into the city’s sewer and water systems, for affordable housing projects.

The consultant said the city also should consider innovative approaches, including the purchase of run-down homes that need renovating. Shukert said the city also could look at building new affordable housing units for senior citizens, and then buy the existing single-family homes from seniors to use as affordable housing stock.

Several members of the real estate community said they now hoped that the city would begin to act on the suggestions.

“Affordable housing is an issue we hear about quite a bit,” Ramler said. “I definitely would like to see them try to remedy it a bit.”

Highberger said he believed city commissioners would put the information to use. He said he might keep the process going by appointing a task force on affordable housing issues.

“I’m actually pretty excited,” Highberger said. “I think there are some things we can do, and this gives us a start on it.”

The city and county split the $6,000 cost of the study, which also looked at the housing markets in Baldwin, Eudora and Lecompton. The study is part of a program provided by Aquila, the city’s natural gas provider.

“We primarily just do it to help communities we operate in grow and prosper,” said Scott McGinley, economic development director for Aquila. “As a utility that helps all of us.”