Editorial: Think more broadly about affordable housing

photo by: Journal-World Photo Illustration

Lawrence Journal-World Editorial

If you ever wonder how unique Lawrence is, consider this: We trust government so much that we willingly gave it millions of dollars before government even had a plan to spend it. There aren’t many communities in America that would do that.

But Lawrence did so when voters approved the .05 percent sales tax for affordable housing in November 2017. About 62 percent of voters approved that 10-year tax despite the city not having a detailed plan on how it would spend the money. The city, at that point, didn’t even have a study that defined how large the affordable housing problem was. Voters were told affordable housing was a problem and passing this tax was a way to show that we are a compassionate community. That was enough.

This, however, is not a hand-wringing editorial over why voters approved the tax. There are worse problems than being a compassionate community. Besides, it probably is true that communities who try to address affordable housing will be better off than those who don’t. As long as the city is sensible — an important caveat — the affordable housing effort is probably a good long-term investment.

But it is fair to ask how the affordable housing effort is coming along. Earlier this month, the Journal-World reported on a significant recommendation from the city’s Affordable Housing Advisory board. The board wants the city to consider allowing two homes to be built on a single lot in traditional single-family neighborhoods. One of them would be smaller and would have to meet the definition of an affordable home.

In one way, the proposal is a step in the right direction, but in another it is a reminder of how much work we still have to do on this issue. The positive element of this proposal is it tries to introduce some systemic change. Too often, affordable housing ideas are focused on this project or that project. It will be difficult to make a true dent in the affordable housing issue by subsidizing a project that builds a few living units over here and another one that builds a few living units over there. The city’s study on affordable housing found that 5,200 households have rental rates that leave them cost-burdened. You’ll never catch up to that number with a project here or there.

But it is not clear that this idea of two homes on a single lot will be effective at addressing the problem. The concept is that with two homes on a single lot, the price of land becomes more reasonable because the cost of the building lot can be shared by two households. But don’t we already have a system that does that? They’re called duplexes. Duplexes have not solved Lawrence’s affordable housing problem. One reason they haven’t is because the market adjusts. When the market discovers you can put two houses on a single lot, what is to stop the market from simply increasing the price of that single lot? There goes much of your savings.

Plus, do we really think new construction is the best way to create affordable housing? It might be easier to fill up vacancies in the Lawrence apartment market. Does the city, though, even know how many vacancies exist in the Lawrence apartment market? It could be useful information to have.

It is important for the city to think broadly about this topic of affordable housing. For example, the city should continue to explore ways to create systemic change in not only Lawrence’s housing system but also its economy.

Why the economy? Perhaps the most effective way to address affordable housing is to address the other side of the equation — the amount of income residents have to spend on housing. Could some of the city’s affordable housing money be spent on figuring out why Lawrence incomes are lower than in other comparable communities?

You may ask, though, what solutions could the community conceivably find to address the income issue? Well, at the moment, they fall into the same category as many of the affordable housing solutions. They are titled: Currently Unknown.

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